The major focus of No Child Left Behind 2001 (also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - ESEA) is to provide all children with a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.
Title-I Highly Qualified (HQ) Requirements
Educational Assistants-aides who support services provided in a school-are a valuable resource in any school setting. No Child Left Behind sets clear guidelines for academic qualifications for individuals assisting in instruction in Title I or special needs schools or classrooms. The law allows teachers' aides to support instruction if they have met certain academic requirements by June 30, 2006:
- They must have at least an associate degree or two years of college (72 credit hours or 48 semester units),
- or, meet a rigorous standard of quality as demonstrated through a formal state or local academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to assist in instructing reading, writing, and mathematics.
Oregon education agencies have adopted the WorkKeys Assessment through ACT as the rigorous assessment. A description of the assessment and sample items can be found at: http://www.act.org/workkeys/assess/foundational.html
The Oregon School Employees Association provides tutoring and scheduling services for the WorkKeys assessment.
Paraprofessionals in Title I schools do not need to meet the requirements if their role does not involve facilitating instruction. For example, paraprofessionals who serve only as all monitors do not have to meet the same academic requirements. If a person working with special education students does not provide any instructional support (such as one who solely provides personal care services), that person is not considered a paraprofessional and the academic requirements do not apply.
From No Child Left Behind: A Toolkit for Teachers: found online at: http://www.ed.gov/teachers/nclbguide/nclb-teachers-toolkit.pdf on 14-25-08.
Click for requirements for paraeducators set out by the U. S. Department of Education.