Paraeducators' Stories of Resistance, Resilience, and Adaptation in a Grow Your Own Program

• In Event: An Overlooked Educator Workforce in Schools: Investigating the Career Development of Paraeducators

Abstract

Objectives and Purposes
Focusing on the lived stories of six Latina paraeducators, we share findings from a larger federally funded, multi-year mixed methods study centered on one alternative route to teaching program (ART) in the Pacific Northwest designed to recruit, graduate and certify paraeducators working with English language learners (ELLs). Using Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) model and the Funds of Knowledge (FoK) framework (Moll et al., 1992/2005), we highlight tremendous resources and strengths these Latina women draw from themselves, their families, and communities to navigate, succeed, graduate and secure employment amidst structural and institutional challenges. The analysis addresses the following research questions:
What forms of CCW do a diverse group of Latina paraeducators bring to their K-12 schools and their ART program?
How do these different capitals serve paraeducators to overcome great challenges before, during and after they graduate from an ART program?

Theoretical framework
ART programs are a significant means by which prospective Teachers of Color (TOCs) enter the teaching profession (Author, 2019a). Diversifying the teaching force is key because TOCs are well-positioned to promote academic and overall life success for students of color because they possess an intimate understanding of students' cultural and linguistic backgrounds (Milner, 2006; Author, 2018a).

We utilize the theoretical frameworks of FoK (Moll et al., 1992/2005) and CCW (Yosso, 2005), which value the resources leveraged from linguistically, culturally, and ethnically/racially diverse communities. CCW draws on critical race theory, which exposes and challenges racism (Solórzano, 1997), rejects dominant ideology and White privilege, and affirms the lived experiences of TOCs. CCW recognizes six forms of capital or cultural wealth: aspirational, linguistic, familial, social, navigational, and resistant capital.

Methods
The larger project studies the trajectories of 44 paraeducators from various linguistic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds, many of them Latinx, bilingual, and first-generation college students, as they navigate an ART program, graduate, and secure a teaching position as bilingual or ELL teachers. We use narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) to understand the lived experiences of six Latina paraeducators as they use their CCW to overcome obstacles that continue to "keep out and push out" TOCs (e.g., Andrews et al., 2019). Data include observations, classroom video-recordings, written assignments, artifacts, and interviews.

Results and Implications
The ART program offered Latina paraeducators space for validation, framing their difference from mainstream cultural groups as an asset, debunking the deficit-oriented messages often received in traditional preparation programs (Author, 2018b). Inequitable institutional structures, ideologies, and policies in the U.S., make it exceedingly difficult for People of Color to advance. Each woman’s story showcases how she utilized her FoK and CCW to realize her dream. Today, they are all newly certified bilingual and/or ELL teachers.

These findings have important implications for future work: 1) understanding the potential of ART programs in preparing TOC; 2) validating the untapped talents and wealth that local TOCs bring to K-12 and higher education contexts; and 3) acknowledging the imperative for teacher education programs to actively partner with parents, communities and school districts.

Authors

• Gisela Ernst-Slavit, Washington State University - Vancouver

• Judith A. Morrison, Washington State University

• Steven Morrison, Washington State University

• Lindsay K Lightner, Washington State University

• Yuliya Ardasheva, Washington State University - Tri-Cities

• Kira Joy Carbonneau, Washington State University - Pullman