Guidance
Recent federal disability legislation has led to important changes that impact the work of paraeducators. Students with disabilities are now participating to a greater degree than ever before in public education settings. There is an increased emphasis on providing adequate training to school staff, particularly paraeducators, who provide much of the support for students with special needs. In Kentucky, this need for training is being addressed, in part, by ParaEducators of Kentucky, an intiative supported by a State Improvement Grant. It is a five-year grant awarded by the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services of the U.S. Department of Education. Main activities of the paraeducator training project include the examination of training issues (obstacles, solutions, preferred training formats), the validation of a set of core competencies, and the development of an in-service training program to help meet the competency goals.The presentation will provide an overview of the process and outcomes of the paraeducator training project.
A survey was developed for the purposes of learning about paraeducator training issues and for determining the paraeducator competencies that are most valued in Kentucky. The survey was administered to 230 key stakeholders (teachers, paraeducators, parents, and administrators) within Kentucky. Survey results will be reviewed. Primary findings include the following. Respondents indicated that there is minimal training provided to paraeducators in their area who work with students with disabilities. Some reasons for this seem to be a lack of resources, a high turnover rate, and unsupportive district policies. Respondents indicated that the ideal training would be hands-on and provided at their work site by a state or regional trainer at the beginning of the schoolyear. In addition, 42 of 45 paraeducator competencies were rated highly enough to be considered validated for the state of Kentucky. The survey results then guided the development of the training program.
A survey was developed for the purposes of learning about paraeducator training issues and for determining the paraeducator competencies that are most valued in Kentucky. The survey was administered to 230 key stakeholders (teachers, paraeducators, parents, and administrators) within Kentucky. Survey results will be reviewed. Primary findings include the following. Respondents indicated that there is minimal training provided to paraeducators in their area who work with students with disabilities. Some reasons for this seem to be a lack of resources, a high turnover rate, and unsupportive district policies. Respondents indicated that the ideal training would be hands-on and provided at their work site by a state or regional trainer at the beginning of the schoolyear. In addition, 42 of 45 paraeducator competencies were rated highly enough to be considered validated for the state of Kentucky. The survey results then guided the development of the training program.
The training program that is currently being developed will consist of approximately 20-30 hours of training material that can be provided to small groups on a pre-service or in-service basis. Training material is organized into seven modules that address the following topics: teamwork skills (roles and responsibilities, ethical issues, and communication and problem-solving skills); instructional support; behavior management techniques; information about disabilities; health-related procedures; additional job coach skills; and assistive technology. Training techniques include brief lectures, role-plays, worksheets/handouts, discussion, and small group activities. The program will be pilot-tested on small groups of paraeducators and adjusted, as necessary. Then the program developers plan to use a “train the trainers” model with the staff of local education agencies to achieve program dissemination throughout the state of Kentucky.
EditProgram Overview
This program is intended to be used as pre-service or in-service training to help paraeducators who work with students with disabilities in the state of Kentucky be as effective as possible in their roles. The development of this program was supported by a State Improvement Grant from the U.S. Department of Education (Grant #H323A990013), which was provided to the Interdisciplinary Human Development Institute (IHDI) at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. Content provided in this training program is intended to help paraeducators meet a set of core competencies identified for paraeducators in Kentucky. Some content has been borrowed (with permission) from other states that have developed similar materials. Other content is the original work of the manual authors and the other professionals on the IHDI staff.
This training program is divided into 7 modules. In general, it is recommended that the modules be presented in the order they are provided in the manual. However, depending on the knowledge level of the trainees, some modules may also be effective as stand-alone modules. Modules 1 and 3-7 are for paraeducators; Module 2 is for supervisors of paraeducators (i.e., teachers and administrators). It is highly recommended that Modules 1 and 2 be provided either at the same time (Module 1 to paraeducators and Module 2 to supervisors) or close together in time. This is because paraeducators operate within a system (the school environment) and it is difficult for them to improve their job performance, based on the training they receive, if key people in their environment (teachers, administrators) aren’t also aware of the relevant "best practices."