Annie Smith has been taking college courses for longer than she cares to admit, slowly working toward her goal of becoming a teacher. Since she also works full time as a paraprofessional in New York City, it has taken years of evening and summer classes to accumulate enough credits to graduate.

Now, with the end in sight, Smith and 49 fellow paraprofessional members of the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) are enrolled in college full time this semester, thanks to an expedited career ladder program the union negotiated and the city board of education is funding. The program allows pares who are only 12-24 credits short of graduating to attend full time so they can finish their undergraduate studies--while still receiving their regular salary and benefits. In addition, the board will pay for their replacements in the classroom.

What's more, once they earn their degrees and pass the required teacher exams, the New York City pares are guaranteed a teaching position. The only hitch is that they have to be qualified to teach in a shortage area, such as special education or math or science, and they have to agree to teach for at least two years. That won't be a problem for Smith, who has been collecting materials and resources during her 15 years as a para at P.S. 80 in Queens. Her major is elementary special education.

Likewise for Ghandi Gopi, a health paraprofessional at Beach Channel High School in Queens, who will earn his degree in biology this semester. "I have a duty and a responsibility to accept a teaching position for at least two years," Gopi says. "In my case, that's a win-win situation. I want to teach, and I'm being offered a position when I finish."

For 30 years now, the UFT has had a paraprofessional career ladder program that allows every para to take college courses, says UFT paraprofessional chapter leader Maria Portalatin. The program has helped more than 7,000 paras become teachers and even principals. But this expedited program is even better because it allows the paras to attend full time, she adds. More than 175 people applied for the 50 available positions, so Portalatin is hoping the popular program can continue again in the fall semester.

Administrators tell her, Portalatin says, that former paras make excellent teachers. Gopi and Smith, for their part, both feel prepared to move on to new jobs. "I feel great about it," Smith says. "Because I've been a para for so long, I can say I was able to get this far. It has been like on-the-job training."

Gopi, an eight-year veteran para, says he has spent a lot of time observing what teachers in his school do and analyzing what works and what doesn't. He especially pays attention to discipline practices and how the teacher sets the tone for student behavior in the room. "I think I have what it takes" to become a good teacher, he says.