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TO THE TEST: Requirements For Teachers' Assistants to Change
by Lori Higgins, Detroit Free Press, November 14, 2003
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School workers
who help the neediest students are frustrated, angry and
insulted by new demands that force them to prove they are
qualified to do their jobs.
Either they take a test -- or earn college credit -- or they
lose their low-paying jobs.
"Now, all of a sudden, we're not qualified. It's kind of put us
in an awkward position," said Beth Marple, a paraprofessional,
or classroom assistant, at Hunter Elementary School in the
Gibraltar School District.
The years they've spent assisting teachers, or working with
small groups of students who need extra help, won't matter
anymore.
Nor will the fact that they've taken on increasingly demanding
responsibilities while earning an average $6-$8 an hour.
By 2006, if they haven't passed a test, earned a 2-year degree
or taken two years of college classes, they'll lose their jobs.
"I'm 48. The last time I really took a test, Nixon was in
office," said Elaine Boria, who has logged six years in Huron
Valley Schools.
It's part of rules now required by the federal No Child Left
Behind Act, the law President George W. Bush signed in January
2002 that has brought sweeping accountability changes to public
schools in America.
Locally, the school workers use adjectives such as "insulted"
and "disappointed" to describe their feelings about the rules.
And those who represent their interests say the workers should
get something in return.
"We hope at some point that with these additional requirements,
we'll see additional compensation and additional respect for our
paraprofessionals," said Margaret Trimer-Hartley, spokeswoman
for the Michigan Education Association, a statewide union that
represents school employees.
Because now, Trimer-Hartley said, a paraprofessional could get a
job at McDonald's, earn the same salary, but not face the same
requirements.
Boria, who assists in a first-grade classroom and helps students
who don't speak English, said the new rules aren't a bad idea.
"We need to know these people are intelligent enough to be
teaching these subjects to these kids. It's a fair request,"
said Boria, who works at Apollo Elementary School in Highland.
The new rules, which also apply to anyone hired after January,
have broad implications. While they apply only to those who work
in so-called Title 1 programs -- which primarily assist
low-income students -- many believe districts will eventually
require the same standards of all paraprofessionals.
As the role of paraprofessionals has changed over the years, so
have efforts to require more of them, or provide training to
help them meet the expanding needs of children.
Years ago, the job was mostly clerical.
"The days of us cutting out paper and doing bulletin boards are
long gone," said Shannon Force, a paraprofessional at Fountain
Elementary School in Roseville.
Nowadays, they work side-by-side with teachers, sometimes
tending to the needs of struggling students or pulling small
groups aside for extra help.
Some have specialized jobs, working with students who don't
speak English, with those who have special education needs or in
technology programs.
There are now programs to certify them.
One of the largest in Michigan is run by Oakland Schools, the
county's intermediate school district, where 1,924 people have
enrolled to earn a certificate since it began in 1996. Some have
come from as far away as Canada, said Gale Gross, staff
development consultant at Oakland Schools.
Now, though, paraprofessionals who opt to be tested can choose
from two options: A basic skills test that all college students
who want to enter a teaching program must take, or an ACT
WorkKeys test, which has been used for years in the workplace to
assess employee skills.
It's too soon to judge how those who've already taken the tests
are doing, said Sharon Stockero, a consultant with the Michigan
Department of Education. The tests can be retaken an unlimited
number of times until 2006.
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