[A] study for the Vermont Legislature found that most school administrators want to reduce the number of paraprofessionals that provide special education services.
The study shows that Vermont schools use paraprofessional educators extensively in special education programs.
The study was commissioned for the Legislature by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute. Researchers shared the study’s findings with the House and Senate Education committees last week.
Sen. Ann Cummings, D-Washington, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said working to bring the number of paraprofessionals down could be part of the state’s push toward lowering staff-to-student ratios in Vermont and capturing personnel savings.
Cummings said the increase in the use of paraprofessionals is “one of the major cost drivers” in school spending.
Vermont’s average student to staff ratio is 4.7 to 1, the lowest ratio in the nation.
Sue Leibowitz and Greta Schultz, senior research managers with the Donahue Institute, testified in Senate Education last week.
Schultz said many schools assign a paraprofessional to special education students as a matter of course.
That approach, Schultz said, is related to “a deep commitment to inclusion” for students who receive special education services.
“We found that Vermont is at somewhat of a critical juncture” around paraprofessional use, Schultz said. “These long-held cultural traditions are really being called into question and often it’s on the grounds of responsibility … not so much asking what is the role of the para, but how can we restructure the system to best serve all students. Vermont could achieve inclusion through alternative strategies if capacity were built.”
Some schools are reducing paraprofessionals and “replacing them with either general educators or special educators … fewer bodies, more expertise, that’s kind of been the trade-off,” she said.
The study found that students’ reading scores dipped slightly on standardized tests in the younger and middle grades when they worked with a paraprofessional.
In addition, students can become dependent on a paraprofessional for support, Schultz said.
“Student outcomes are very complex phenomena and we can’t just attribute (test) scores to paraprofessionals, they are a small portion of the accountability,” Schultz said. “And, in fact, poverty accounts for more.”
Schultz said there are “pockets of innovation,” in schools around the state that are demonstrating alternatives that better serve students.
There has been an increase in behavioral challenges and the use of behavior interventionists in schools, the study found, and behavioral outcomes for students, associated with the use of paraprofessionals, were improved.
Many Vermont schools are beginning to question the use of paraprofessionals and push for direct instruction from special educators and teachers, she said.
Paraprofessionals are often asked to assume roles and responsibilities “that may exceed their competencies,” according to the study.
The researchers found that many Vermont schools are taking “a broader view of how the special education delivery system can best be structured to meet student needs.”
Reliance on paraprofessionals can lead to regular classroom teachers being “further removed than might be desirable from the experience of and responsibility for special education students,” the report notes.
The study was conducted in cooperation with the Vermont Agency of Education for the legislative Joint Fiscal Office. In all, 3,385 educators responded to a statewide survey associated with the study. Information from 2012 and 2013 was used in the study. Up to $75,000 was appropriated for the work.
