If that is what Dick thinks, I suggest we change jobs for one day. Let's see what this guy is REALLY made of!
The real "paras" know what goes on in the schools. Again, he is misinformed on what the dedicated school para's are made of!!

While Dick's reasons are valid, this is not why I became a paraprofessional. I was volunteering at my son's school and when a para posistion became available and the job description was what I was doing for free, the principal encouraged me to apply. That was a few years ago, and now I am a paraeducator in an autistic preschool and my job is very important and very vital. I consider it a career-- one with constant opportunity for improvement and growth enabling me to help make a difference in children's lives.

I use to fit under category #2; waiting for my children to grow out of the house, but now with the low status and tremendous headaches that comes with adding the changing of diapers of 8th graders to my job description (!) I am waiting for another job where I will use my 25 year old teaching certificate.

I think he has it terribly wrong. Some paraprofessionals are teacher assistants who are there to assistant the teacher in any meaningful way. Education is a career one chooses to make a difference. I am a dedicated paraprofessional who realized a long time ago that the teacher can't do it all by her/his self. They need someone who can take little Johnnie out of the group and spend special time with him so that he understands that a "G" can make two different sounds or that "E" has a long sound and a short sound and that it can have no sound at all if it's at the end of a word. The teacher needs someone who can take little Sally out of the group and show her how multiplication is really a short way of adding 2+2+2=6 and saying 2x3=6. The teacher needs someone that can help he/she to educate all the children in his/her classroom. In special education, the teacher really needs the teacher assistant to help he/she in every aspect of that field.
I resent his narrow synoptist of our roles as educational assistants.

Who is Dick? He got it VERY wrong. I'm a union rep and nearly all the paras I represent are doing the job because they are the primary support of families AND they care about education. They may have started as parent volunteers, but now they are dedicated educational professionals.

I have been a paraprofessional for 20 years and I don't fall into ANY of the three catagories Dick mentioned. I love working with this amazing population. We (society) could learn a great deal from them. Why have I not certified? Dick had this right...fewer headaches. I want to work with the children, being certified, you have to deal with so much more. One comment I read referred to us as "dedicated"..that just about sums us up. Those of us who stick around ARE dedicated and hardworking. We all know the money isn't the greatest, but I wouldn't trade my job or past experience for anything.

Dick's breakdown of WHY or WHAT made a Paraprofessional choose this line of work may be a good description of reasons BUT once a Paraprofessional starts working, all the reasons blend in to one and that reason is to better the life of a child.

No matter what profession or career a person chooses, it's not usually for the same reason as another person who chose the same line of work. So true for Paraprofessionals. Some are right out of school, others, like me, were volunteers in their children's schools and the job just suited them, and still others it's the only line of work they ever chose, and others it's a second career chosen after the kids were grown.

Whatever reason a Paraprofessional has for choosing this line of work, I'm sure a love for children and for education was somewhere among the reasons. One reason I'm sure they DIDN'T choose this line of work, is for the MONEY!!!
It's one of the lowest paying jobs in the school system.

Dick,

Hmmm, let's think about this. Low pay, no recognition, high turnover. Remember back in the 70's when teachers were struggling with the same issues?

I work as a Special Ed TA in a self contained classroom. We have 1 teacher and 3 TAs. With that ratio, WHO is spending the most time with the students? The TAs provide direct instruction, lead centers, and provide behavior management based on models such as PECs, ABA ,AVB, and token economy, to name a few. We need to be familiar with the studentss' IEPs, and have knowledge of the particuliar characteristics of our students' abilities and disabilities. We also need to make educated decisions when in situations where the special ed teacher is not present,for example; art, gym, music, lunch, and playground. Our students still require behavioral interventions in those settings.

The face of education has changed. Educated, career TAs and the knowledge and experience they bring to the classroom is needed. The classroom is no place for high turnover and under invested employees.

Let's talk about the administrators who make $100,000+. Teachers, school social workers, PTs, OTs, and secretaries don't make a fortune, but in most places, they can live on the salary and still have a few extras. The great majority of paras do not make a LIVING WAGE! Why the disparity in wages?

I don't think that Dick is trying to reflect on Paras negatively at all. I think he is writing as an advocate for paras, saying that they are underpaid for the amount of work that they do, and if you read further in his blog, you will see that his own child has a 1:1 para that makes a huge difference in his son's education and abilities at school. I think that the school system does not appreciate or train paras as much as they should. They are so vital, and as a parent of a disabled child, I can say that they make a huge difference, regardless of how they got to that job or why they remain.

He is wrong. I was a paraprofessional because I wanted to make a difference in some child's life, and I did. The reason I'm not in that position now is because I couldn't afford to go to college for the required 48 hrs of college. And by the way, in the ten years that I taught, I made a difference in several children's lives.

Gee, Thanks!

All 3 groups I mentioned can be dedicated in their own way. Never did I say otherwise, and I never would.

I use the term "paraeducator" with the greatest measure of respect. Click the category in Wordpress, and you'll see I own the entire category. I write more about paras than anyone else, bar none, because they are such an intergral and important part of the life that chose me.

That post wasn't my best, but Michele's summary was an over-simplification that amounts to butchery!

D.

Hi Dick,

I'm sorry you think my post amounted to butchery. I'm also not sure what you mean by "comment whoring." We do try to engage the membership on this blog.

http://specialed.wordpress.com/2006/09/30/paraeducators-and-comment-whoring/

Just as you are free to express your opinions about paras, so are our members--who are currently working as paras. Anyway, thanks for coming over and commenting on the site.

Michele

I too agree with all the aforementioned comments. There is also another reason Paras come and stay in the job. Students deserve support from people who really care about them being the best and the most they can be. Many of us are so fortunate to have children who can lead lives without the struggles many of our students must encounter. We give and give so the students we are in charge of can have the best opportunity to gain the most from their years in the educational system they are in. Our goal is to make them as independent as possible so they grow up to have the very best independent life possible.

It is such a shame that Dick does not really have first hand knowledge. He could certainly be enlightened. He makes a lot of assumptions. Children with special needs are labeled by what they cannot do. Paras look at these children and see what they can do and that is what gives them the staying power.

Paras like teacher are not recognized for the difference they make in the lives of children but they are critized when they want to make a living wage for being the propfessional they are.

For a better treatment of para issues, I invite you to read an older post:
http://specialed.wordpress.com/2006/07/12/para-pay/

I talk more about the apalling pay and conditions. It's a much better treatment of the subject and actually adds something to something Michele had already been discussing.

D.

Dick, there are many reasons we become para's. I did it because I promised my daughter that I was willing to do anything that I could to advance all children's educational process. So when her school needed a Para to work with a child with special needs, I took the job. I have been working with children with special needs now for 4 years, and I am going back to get my degree to teach all learners. I took a $18,000 pay cut to work with students and now I am broke but the happiest I have been. So let's not try to catagorize paraprofessionals, we should just thank heavens that they are around