Diversifying the Teaching Workforce: The Promise of Fostering Paraprofessionals to Teacher Career Ladders

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Alternative Certification Pathways for and From Diverse Communities and Contexts

Abstract

Scholars recognize that student populations need to have teachers that match their cultural and linguistic backgrounds. However, the teaching workforce is predominantly white and student populations are increasingly changing across U.S. public schools. The main aim of the present study was to explore the ways in which the paraprofessional workforce may be diverse, and how this group may be a potential workforce toward increasing teacher diversity.
The dataset included first-time takers (N = 103,810) of paraprofessional certification exam and qualitative interviews conducted with former paraprofessionals. The quantitative results indicated that paraprofessionals represent a diverse sample in terms of race/ethnicity and language. The qualitative results suggested that paraprofessionals experience barriers when transitioning to the teaching workforce.

Authors

• Monica Romero, The University of Missouri-Columbia

• Christopher Terrazas, The University of Texas at Austin

• Geoffrey Phelps

• Cara Cahalan Laitusis, ETS