Paraeducator Requirements
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Washington State Core Competencies
For Paraeducators
To work in
education and related service programs for children and youth with
disabillities, paraeducators will demonstrate:
- Understanding
the values of providing instructional and other direct services
to all children and youth with disabilities.
- Understanding the roles and responsibilities
of certificated/licensed staff
and paraeducators.
- Knowledge of (a) patterns of human development and
milestones typically achieved at different ages, and (b) risk
factors that
may prohibit or impede typical development.
- Ability to practice
ethical and professional standards of conduct, including
the requirements of confidentiality.
- Ability to communicate with colleagues,
follow instructions, and use problem solving and other skills
that will enable the paraeducator to work as an effective
member of the instructional team.
- Ability to provide positive behavioral support
and management.
- Knowledge of the legal issues related to the education
of children and youth
with disabilities and their families.
- Awareness of diversity among the children,
youth, families, and colleagues
with whom they work.
- Knowledge and application of the elements of effective
instruction to assist teaching and learning as developed by
the certificated/licensed staff in a variety
of settings.
- Ability to utilize appropriate strategies and techniques
to provide instructional support in teaching and learning as
developed by
the certificated/licensed staff.
- Ability to motivate and assist
children and youth.
- Knowledge of and ability to follow health,
safety, and emergency procedures
of the agency where they are employed.
- Awareness of the ways in which technology
can assist teaching and learning.
- Awareness of personal care and/or
health related support.
- WAC 392-172-200 concerning staff qualifications
was adopted December 1, 1999 and went into effect January 1, 2000.
You can obtain a
complete copy off the
OSPI website.
For more information on the Washington State Paraeducator
Core Competencies contact
the State Paraeducator
Project.
NCLB Paraeducator Requirements
The law states in Section 1119(g) that all paraprofessionals
who are performing instructional duties and are funded with Title
I funds, including all paraprofessional performing instructional
duties in a schoolwide building, must meet specific requirements.
These requirements are:
- 1. Paraprofessionals must currently have a secondary school
(high school) diploma or its recognized equivalent, and
- 2. Paraprofessionals must fulfill one of the three following
requirements:
- a. Complete at least two years of study
at an institution of higher education; or
- b. Obtain an associate's (or higher)
degree; or
- c. Meet a rigorous standard of
quality and can demonstrate, through a formal state or local academic assessment:
- i) Knowledge of, and
the ability to assist in instructing, reading, writing and mathematics;
- ii) Knowledge
of, and the ability to assist in instructing, reading readiness, writing readiness, and mathematics readiness as appropriate.
Paraprofessionals hired prior to or on January 8, 2002, have until January 8, 2006, to meet one of the three
requirements listed above. Paraprofessionals hired after
January 8, 2002 , must meet one of the three requirements
when hired.
Washington's Solutions to Fulfill the Title I Requirement
- 1. Complete two years of study at an institution of
higher education. For Washington, two years of study is defined as 72 quarter
or 48 semester credits. The institution of higher education must
be a nationally recognized accrediting agency that is public or
non-profit and provides an educational program for which the institution
awards a bachelor's degree or provides not less than a two-year
program that is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree.
- 2. Obtain an associate's (or higher) degree. Institutions of higher education, both four and two year institutions,
grant several different types of associate's degrees. Any of these
associate's degrees will fulfill this requirement.
- 3. Formal Assessment. Paraprofessionals who do not qualify either through two years
of study at an institution of higher education or an associate's
degree must qualify to meet the requirement through one
of the following four options designated as a formal assessment
of rigorous standard of quality. The means by which a paraeducator
can meet this requirement is at the district's discression.
- a. ParaPro Assessment developed by
the Educational Testing Service (ETS), or
- b. A portfolio assessment
process, or
- c. A process whereby school districts
can evaluate their current assessment procedures to determine if
they meet the rigorous standard of quality as defined by Section
1119 and the November 2002 US Department of Education non-regulatory guidance for Title I paraprofessionals, or
- d. Completion of an approved
Apprenticeship Program by the Washington State Apprenticeship and
Training Council and registered with the Washington State Department
of Labor and Industries.
Instructional Assistant and Educational Paraprofessional Apprenticeship
Program (approved by the Washington State Apprenticeship and Training
Council registered with the Washington State Department of Labor
and Industries) are currently approved programs. Several other apprenticeship
programs are undergoing review.
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