Paraprofessional Reflection Paper

Paraprofessionals continue to be instrumental in the instruction of students with disabilities in public schools. However, because of lack of training, paraprofessionals struggle to implement evidence-based interventions with high levels of fidelity and also report lack of understanding of job roles and responsibilities. I created and examined a training package based upon the evidenced-based practices of discrete trial instruction, prompting and differential reinforcement. I found after the delivery of the six-week program, all participants reported better understanding of their job roles and responsibilities and increased the fidelity with which they implemented those three evidence-based practices. The training package included three separate

First, modeling occurred from the trainer with a student. This permitted the trainer to directly apply the theories and practices explained in the lecture training in person while discussing them in real time and comparing what was happening during the modeling to the previously delivered lecture. The modeling provided the opportunity to dig deeper in application of each evidence-based practice with a student as performed by the more highly trained and experienced teacher trainer. Most importantly, it seemed, was that the modeling sessions provided the opportunity to apply the theory and practice of each training target to instructional situations that were unexpected and not as black and white as a lecture may make things

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) specifically calls for the growth of paraprofessional training from simple workshops to more in-depth and long-term training programs that address using evidence-based practices for student with disabilities (ESSA, 2015). Thinking logistically, given the nature of workshop-type training (acquiring substitute teachers or aides especially on instructional days or gathering large groups of paraprofessionals to one place on one day, etc.), a teacher-delivered training package may be a better way for school districts to better comply with, and help actualize, the promise of ESSA. One possible approach would be to host trainings for teachers on how to deliver a teacher-based training for their paraprofessionals on how to implement evidence-based practices and then implement a follow-up fidelity check system for the teachers who implemented those trainings, and the paraprofessionals who received