28.050 - Program and Policy Innovation for Paraprofessional Pipelines

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The development of program and policy innovation for paraprofessional pipelines is critical if the field is to tap the paraprofessional teacher pool for addressing teacher shortages. Thus, this symposium is designed to address the following objectives: (1) elevate promising programs and policies to remove these barriers to grow the bilingual teacher workforce; (2) highlight features of program innovation for serving culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) paraprofessionals in school districts; and (3) explore how coalition building among communities and Teachers of Color functions as a vehicle for advancing policies related to Grow Your Own programs.

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Division K - Section 09: Teacher Education Innovation and Policy

Chair

• Conra D. Gist, University of Houston

Papers

• Breaking Barriers to Help Bilingual Paraprofessionals Enter the Teaching Profession Through Grow Your Own - Amaya Garcia, New America

• The Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Paraprofessional: An Innovative Teacher Pipeline - Diana Gonzales Worthen, University of Arkansas; Janet Penner-Williams, University of Arkansas; Eva I. Diaz, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

• Grow Your Own Policy Spotlight: Organizing a Coalition for Systems Change - Robbie Burnett, Minnesota State University - Mankato

Discussant

• Yukari Takimoto Amos, Central Washington University