Expanding Teacher Preparation Pathways for Paraprofessionals: A Recruiting Seminar Series.

The landscape of public schools is changing. Nationally, nearly one third of school age children are cultural minorities versus only 16% of the teaching force (National Center for Education Statistics, 2003). Projections for the next twenty years estimate dramatic changes in national demographics with 61% of the population increases occurring among members of the Hispanic and Asian communities (Hodgkinson, 2002). In response to changing demographics, teacher education programs have been limited in their ability to produce substantial numbers of teachers from racial, ethnic, and language minority groups (Clewell & Villegas, 1998; Hodgkinson, 2002; Kane & Orsini, 2005; Villegas & Lucas, 2002; Su, 1997). Schools in general and urban schools in particular, suffer from a shortage of minority teachers in their teaching force. On a national level, the number of minority teachers is diminishing, while the number of minority students continues to grow (Hodgkinson, 2002; Stanford, 1999). Despite general agreement that increased numbers of minority teachers would be beneficial, traditional teacher preparation programs have had difficulties attracting applicants, assisting them through programs, and launching them into successful educational careers (Villegas & Lucas, 2002). This problem is particularly acute in one metropolitan area of a western state. This major urban region has undergone a rapid and dramatic shift in its demographics with an increase of 117% in minorities between 1990-2000 (Perlich, 2002). Thus, in those years, one in three new residents was a minority person and the Hispanic population more than doubled. The primary urban school district reported that 53% of its students were from non-majority populations; however only 3% of its educators were from non-majority populations (2007 district census data). Barriers, specifically language barriers, academic coursework, and the perception that the university is inaccessible to minorities, have limited a local research university in attracting teacher candidates from these populations. Calls for increased numbers of minority teachers have come from a variety of sources and been justified in a number of ways. Educators in general (Haberman, 1996), minority educators (Banks, 1993; Gay, 2002; Hollins, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1995), and teacher educators (Grant, 1994), have all recommended increasing the number of minority teachers in schools. Arguments for increasing the number of minority teachers include: (a) serving as role models for minority students (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Clewell & Villegas, 1998; Villegas, 1997), (b) providing more culturally relevant instruction (Foster, 1995; Ladson-Billings, 1995), (c) bridging differences between minority students' homes and cultures and schools (Genzuk & Baca, 1998; Morris, 2004), and (d) in general, providing alternate perspectives on appropriate and effective practices for all students (Banks, 1993). In response to the need for diversifying the teaching force, districts are increasingly tapping into an existing community of educators. In 2004 there were approximately 1.3 million paraprofessionals in public schools. Of that group, 75% were employed in elementary schools where over half of the paraprofessionals worked with children receiving special education services (United States Bureau of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2007). Further, within many communities across the United States, the number of paraprofessionals who are non native English speakers far exceeds native English speakers. In many major urban and rural communities, 60-75% of paraprofessionals are from racial and language minority groups. Paraprofessionals represent a growing segment of district employees seeking professional licensure. National preparation programs through the American Federation of Teachers, national testing programs, and state initiated portfolio programs offer a variety of options for meeting the stipulations set under NCLB legislation and for attracting paraprofessionals into the teaching profession (Burbank, 2008; AACTE, 2004; Keller, 2004). …