Paraprofessional Preparation Course

The Program of Practice

A major challenge for students at Manteca Adult School is getting a job. Specifically, jobs that coincide with their own children’s school hours. The other issue was that immigrant students, even those with high degrees in their country, couldn’t work without a high school diploma from America.

They were concerned about having perfect English, so they avoided jobs that required speaking English. This left most students seeking work but unable to find employment.

At the same time, I was developing an IET class for our students who were in ESL and taking ESL civics classes. I was trying to find something that would benefit students immediately.

While working on this, I was having Adult SPED students come into my classroom for an elective. I was surprised by how often I would meet a new paraprofessional. I was told that paraprofessional jobs were constantly in demand and that para subs could work daily.

As this all unfolded, I looked into what it would take to teach a class that would help students feel better equipped to become paraprofessionals and pass the proficiency test required in place of 48 college credits

The Response

We started a paraprofessional class and encouraged our ESL students to enroll.

The course lasted 8 weeks, with 3 hours of direct instruction and 3 hours of homework, delivered via distance learning. In preparation for the class, we met with behavior analysts, the SPED department, and HR to determine exactly which Para skills are needed in the classroom to make a good candidate for the job. During our research, we learned that our district alone had 450+ para positions. We met with our County Office of Education, which administers an online proficiency exam, to learn what content was needed to pass it. In speaking with the County office of Ed, they expressed their struggle to keep para positions filled and said they weren’t getting equipped candidates. We were also thrilled to learn that Para subs didn’t need their HS diploma.

The Unique Features of the Program

With all this information we gathered, we have built a course that is not only taught to our ESL students, but also to anyone wanting to become a Para. The main uniqueness is the collaboration of different teaching staff. Our HR department pushes into the class, takes the students through all the Para job descriptions, and prepares them for applying and interviewing. We had a district behavior analyst come in to teach, and we filmed her training on skills such as prompting, reinforcement, understanding IEPs, and more. As this has grown, we have now added a Math tutoring opportunity, 1 hour a day, to help those who struggle with passing the math portion of the test. And will be adding a school nurse to come in and explain toilet training and how to help students in wheelchairs and/or with feeding tubes. These extra teaching moments, along with our regular CTE teacher collaborating with ESL on language, have been incredible, though it wasn’t easy to begin.

The Outcome

This past year, our two cycles of classes benefited from the various elements added to the classes. We had more students pass the para exam and begin applying for sub positions.

The HR department has agreed to meet with us to see if we can streamline the process for students who are successful in the class, so they can go straight to a sub job without having to apply. The fact that HR is seeing the value of the class is a big win. And now a student can begin working while finishing their American HS equivalency. We also noticed that the ESL students who finished the course and passed the para exam entered their ESL class more motivated and began taking the HiSET sooner. 9 students from our ESL and para classes became HiSET completers this year and walked at our school's graduation. They are now preparing to apply for jobs. One specific student who took the first para class in the spring of 2025 completed her HiSET by summer, in the Fall of the 25-26 school year, began substituting in our district, and by February, she was hired full-time. As of today, 4 students have begun subbing, and 2 students have been hired. One as a bilingual Punjabi Para. With the HR collaboration next year, we hope to see many more students begin careers in the district while still being able to pick up their own kids from school and be on the same schedule. And to top it off, our district is gaining well-prepared paraprofessionals!