Although committed to the core goals of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) advocates that flaws remain in the law and its implementation in the areas of: (1) Accountability, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and Assessments; (2) Teacher Quality; (3) Paraprofessionals; (4) School Improvement and Public…

This report describes activities and accomplishments of a 3-year federally supported project to develop, implement, and evaluate a model for training paraprofessionals to support students with disabilities in general education classrooms and those who direct and supervise their work. Training materials were developed with a high degree of…

This training module focuses on early childhood and is part of a training series for paraprofessionals working with students who have disabilities. The module is comprised of two components, a facilitator's guide and a student guide. The facilitator's guide provides the full text of the student's edition as well as chapter goals to be accomplished…

A revision of a 1992 publication, this booklet presents standards intended to assist in the establishment and evaluation of programs of teacher preparation, to guide the assessment of the qualifications of literacy professionals, and to inform private and state agencies, policymakers, and the general public as they shape literacy instruction now…

Today's teachers shortage is most severe in urban districts, which struggle to recruit and retain new teachers and face persistent gaps between white, middle class teachers and diverse students. Teachers' lack of cultural and linguistic familiarity in such situations can be damaging to the goal of ensuring that all children achieve to their…

This curriculum outline represents the design framework for the development of a Paraeducator Instructional Institute Curriculum. The intent of the curriculum is to help Title I paraeducators in Montana meet the qualification requirements set forth under Title I, Section 1119(c) of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The curriculum is organized…

This report describes the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund's Pathways to Teaching Careers Program, which is designed to help increase and diversify the supply of well-trained public school teachers willing to work in low-income schools. Program design drew on findings of leading educational researchers that made a strong case for investing in…

This study involved a longitudinal examination of a program designed for paraeducators enrolled in an Urban Preservice Degree Articulation in Teacher Education (UPDATE) program. During the first year, 16 paraeducators successfully completed a series of mathematics courses taught using constructivist instructional methods. These user-friendly…

Learners of English in the United Kingdom find that the language they hear in the classroom is different from native speech outside the classroom. Previous participants in Scotland's Institute for Applied Linguistics Studies summer pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes program had requested more opportunities to talk with native speakers in…

Compared three methods of training remedial reading tutors. All groups made significant improvements. The group that practiced the skills and received feedback made the greatest gains. The group that observed a model was significantly better than the lecture group. (Author/JAC)

The authors present a comprehensive program relating paraprofessionals to the total educational process as partners in the learning team. The article discusses the rationale, needs assessment procedure, techniques for selection and utilization, role examination, performance evaluation, and improvement procedures. References are also given. (Author)

Observations and interviews in 16 classrooms concerning proximity of instructional assistants to students with disabilities found: (1) interference with general educator responsibility; (2) separation from classmates; (3) dependence on adults; (4) impact on peer interactions; (5) limitations on receiving competent instruction; (6) loss of personal…

A case study examined a Texas bilingual teacher education program that recruited local paraprofessionals and Mexican teachers (normalistas). Interviews, writing samples, and observations of seven students revealed that normalistas were open to seeing merit in U.S. educational methods, while paraprofessionals began to question the deficit model…

Teachers, student teachers, paraprofessionals, and college students (total n=1,037) in a region authorizing corporal punishment responded to scenarios describing misbehaving children, varying in seriousness of the transgression, severity of appropriate punishment, and appropriateness of the behavior in other settings. Intergroup differences were…