The Leap to Teacher Program: A Grow Your Own Paraprofessional Pipeline

• In Event: Grow Your Own Programs and Teachers of Color: Examining Program Design, Preparation, and Retention

Abstract

The LEAP to Teacher (LTT) Program is a Grow Your Own paraprofessional pipeline that affords paraprofessionals working in NYC school system with an opportunity to further education, earn college credentials, advance their careers, and become teachers. In short, the program offers these students an important career ladder for upward mobility, while also serving local community schools. Over 75% of students currently enrolled in the LTT program are women of color and 60% are over 30 years old. The focus of this paper is to describe the basic supports that anchor the program design, initial data of impact of support structures, and consider implications for the successful development of Grow Your Own paraprofessional pipelines.

Although Grow Your Own programs are often grouped together, it is important to consider how the design of a paraprofessional GYO program is distinct. Research suggest paraprofessionals often face a unique set of challenges and need developmental and sociocultural supports to aid their transition to become teachers of record in the classroom (Amos, 2013; Rueda & Monzó, 2002). In recognition of these challenges, the conceptual framework that shapes the program design involves academic, cognitive and sociocultural acclimation supports (Herrera, Morales, Holmes, & Terry, 2011) Specifically, the LTT program offers the following supports: (a) assistance preparing for and entering college; (b) pre-application & application advisement; (c) guidance with financial aid, special grant opportunities, and DOE voucher processing; (d) academic advisement from admission to graduation; (e) tutoring and writing support; and (f) free teacher certification exam preparation workshops and courses. These supports, while at first glance may appear common, are designed to addressing the academic and social challenges paraprofessionals often face that keep them from graduating from their programs (Morales & Shroyer, 2016).

In order to better understand the impact of these supports, particular academic support services (i.e., teacher certification exam preparation workshops, embedded writing support, and a writing course for future teachers) were offered during the 2017 academic year, and data sources consisting of course assignments, grades, and informal observation notes were collected to determine overall impact on paraprofessionals learning. Initial results indicate that the supports were viewed positively by participants, and in some cases indicated gains in academic learning. For instance, 40 students participated in an embedded writing support course which is a pilot program designed to improve the writing skills of master’s degree students in order to better prepare them to pass the teacher certification exam. Analysis of course artifacts indicated that approximately 23% of students significantly improved their writing skills. 75% percent showed slight or somewhat improvement. 87% of the students earned a B or higher final course grade. None of the 40 students failed the course. While analyses from these program supports are preliminary, they do suggest important interventions for supporting the successful completion of paraprofessional home grown programs. This is significant because often recommendations to support the development and expansion of local paraprofessional programs fail to mention the types of programmatic interventions necessary to ensure the long-term success of the program.

Author

• Maryam Esfarayeni, The City University of New York