From para to teacher
For urban schools, professional development
and career ladder programs are a natural

Talk about a perfect match. Over the next decade, the nation's public schools will need to hire up to 2 million new teachers to keep up with retirements and growing student enrollment. Qualified minority teachers, in particular, are in short supply, especially in urban districts. Meanwhile, more than three-quarters of a million paraprofessionals are working in classrooms throughout the country. They make up a large and highly promising group of potential teachers--a diverse pool that has only been tapped in modest ways over the years.

Obviously, not every paraprofessional wants to become a teacher; many of them are satisfied with their work (although you would be hard-pressed to find one who doesn't want better professional development opportunities). But a large percentage of paras--or educational assistants, to use another common term--do aspire to teaching careers. And they bring to the classroom traits that can be hard to find in recent graduates of traditional teacher education programs: extensive classroom experience, a willingness to work with the toughest kids, an intimate knowledge of the school and surrounding community, and a long-term commitment to stay in the profession.

An organization called Recruiting New Teachers, which published a major study of para-to-teacher programs a few years ago, put it this way: "Our research suggests that well-prepared paraeducator-to-teacher program graduates bring a wealth of community and student knowledge to their practice--perspectives sorely needed in classrooms today. They know their students well and are committed to their success. They know the neighborhoods, families and social/cultural infrastructure that make up their school's community."

At the same time, educational assistants face significant financial and personal barriers that can make it tough for them to accumulate enough college credits to earn an education degree while still working full time. That's why a well-conceived local or state program is so crucial.

Almost from the time they became a common element of urban schools, in the mid- to late-1960s, paraprofessionals have gone on to become teachers. Some did it on their own, struggling through years of evening and summer classes to earn a degree at their own expense. A few early programs targeted urban paraprofessionals and more specific groups, such as Vietnam veterans, for teaching positions. Unfortunately, most of the early programs that relied on federal funding are no longer around.

But in urban districts from New York to Los Angeles and many others in between, local unions have worked with their districts to institutionalize programs that have supported the efforts of a small but steady supply of educational assistants to move into the teaching ranks. Growing teacher shortages in recent years have put a new focus on the value of para-to-teacher programs.

In many ways, New York City's school system dwarfs all others, and that's the case with its paraprofessional career ladder program, as well. So many New York City paras have become teachers that they could staff most school systems. The first paraprofessional contract the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) negotiated in 1970 set up a program that paid for paraprofessionals to take up to six college credits per semester, gave them time off to attend higher education and provided a stipend during the summer. Since then, the program has helped more than 7,000 New York City paraprofessionals become teachers.

The late AFT president Albert Shanker once called negotiating the career ladder during his leadership of the UFT one of the proudest moments of his distinguished career. "By virtue of their own hard work," he said, "[it helps them] become teachers and join the struggle of teachers to improve their profession. The paras have done us proud. They have strengthened our union and our schools immeasurably."

One of the first paraprofessionals who took advantage of the program was Maria Portalatin, who went on to lead the 17,000-member UFT paraprofessional chapter. Principals, doctors, lawyers and even U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano are also former New York City paras.

"The school system has finally recognized that many of the best teachers once were paraprofessionals," says Portalatin, an AFT vice president. In a pilot program established earlier this year, the city board of education has expedited the way for prospective teachers by agreeing to pay 50 paras' full salary and benefits, which will allow them to attend school full time to complete their degrees. Among them is Annie Smith, a 15-year paraprofessional at P.S. 80 in Queens, who hopes to become a special education teacher. "I feel great about becoming a teacher," Smith says. "Because I've been a para for so long, I've been able to get this far. It's been like on-the-job training."

Ron Miller, principal of P.S. 138 in Manhattan, in 1985 became the first former educational assistant hired as a principal, and he hasn't forgotten those roots. "I think it helps me to have been a para, a teacher and now a supervisor because I have all those perspectives," Miller says. "Every class in the school [which serves severely handicapped students] has about three paras, so they are very important to us.... I try to encourage them to continue their education and become teachers. A number of them have."

In New York City alone, the UFT estimates that the district will have to hire 54,000 new teachers over the next five years. Almost every urban district faces similar projected shortfalls; as long as high-quality paraprofessional career ladder programs keep producing well-prepared teachers, plenty of jobs will await them.

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001