Bridging Gaps, Building Futures: Empowering Rural Paraprofessionals through Teacher Preparation Pathways

• In Event: Rooted Futures: Learner-Centered Postsecondary Models for Rural Learners

Abstract

Objectives: Report results of a mixed methods action-oriented and equity-based study of the alternative Paraprofessional Teacher Education Option (PTEO) offered by a Midwestern university devoted to mitigating early childhood (ECH) teacher shortages, increasing ECH diversity in school-based educator pipelines, and improving ECH teacher quality in rural areas, specifically PreK-2 school-university partnership and innovative cohort-based teaching licensure pathways for rural paraeducators. These research questions guided the study: (1) What policies allow a four year university to successfully partner with a low income and diverse rural school district to create and sustain flexible pathways to postsecondary education for traditionally underserved paraeducators?; (2) How do non-traditional/alternative postsecondary education pathways reduce systemic barriers for rural low income paraeducators?; (3) How does a cohort approach to teacher education impact the postsecondary education success of rural paraeducators leading to teacher licensure?

Framing: The study was framed by multi-layered sociocultural theories (Morales et al., 2007; Levinson & Holland, 1996) that view local educational policies as complex cultural products negotiated among participants and stakeholders and shaped by local, state, and federal policies. These allowed for the uncovering of the complex interactions of policies, settings, and contexts impacting ECH paraeducators’ access and success in a postsecondary education program.

Methods: A mixed-methods inquiry fit the exploration of complex and unique settings by integrating qualitative and quantitative data collection methods targeting rolling cohorts of paraeducators enrolled in the program and allowed for strong triangulation of evidence and strengthening of causal inferences (Yin, 2009).

Data: Instruments included: (1) Program entry and exit surveys to identify program obstacles and successes; (2) On-going semi-structured interviews; (3) Semi-structured interviews of program coordinators, advisors, student mentors, university and school administrators; (4) University records; and (5) university and state policy documents regulating teacher preparation programs. A SWOB (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Barriers) analysis framework was employed to analyze the data.

Results: Results reveal that while the creation of an alternative paraprofessional teacher education pathway was a critical first step, close collaboration with school districts committed to upskilling and education of their paraeducators was central to the work. Because rural paraprofessionals were mostly female full-time incumbent workers earning low wages who often have parental/family duties and interrupted higher education experiences, school leaders who worked to create supportive networks that dovetailed with university flexible supports and also specific ECH state teacher education grants were crucial in creating a successful wrap-around model. The results highlight how reimagining public postsecondary education institutions as central sites for untapping talents of diverse rural communities requires a rethinking of policies, practices and structures on every level.

Significance: This study addresses a critical gap in knowledge about rural paraeducators by (a) informing place-based teacher preparation policies in rural settings; (b) challenging the marginalization of rural education in research; (c) contributing to the rural teacher education literature; and (d) reimagining rural educational settings as opportunities. The findings reinforce the urgency for innovative, flexible teacher preparation programs that recognize incumbent workers’ expertise and support their professional growth (Frat, Kuby, & Zapata, 2024; Liu, 2023).

Authors

• Gloria Delany-Barmann, Western Illinois University

• Carla Paciotto, Western Illinois University

• Lindsay Meeker, Western Illinois University

• Boh Young Lee, Western Illinois University