Certification for Connecticut residents

In order to be certified as a Paraprofessional in CT you need two years of college OR you need to take the ParaPro test . A point of interest is that there is no certificate sent to you in the mail stating that you are certified. Note that it is only for Title One programs that this is a requirement.

For those of us who have a four year degree, and were not reguired to take the test and are not in Title One program, there is no certication that covers us. I am constantly amazed that there are paras in this state with no health insurance, no pension plans. If I were to join the custodial staff and cut the grass or work in the office anwsering the phone, I would have paid health insurance and a pension. But because I work with the students, I pay for my health insurance and have no pension. The certification issue did not result in upgrading the job for what it is. I am seriously job hunting because after 11 years of service, I make $1.43 more an hour than someone hired this year. Just to illustrate the problem, my starting salary was $13,500 and after 11 years it is $16,500. I no longer get an hourly increase each year just a longevity check of $350.

I just received my assignment for this year and once again I am a one to one with a high needs case. I love my job because it is rewarding to coach students and not have to deal with a ton of paperwork or hand out grades but I can't pay my oil bill. So I will be leaving the field. I

The only suggestion that I can come up with is that the state of CT needs a program where paras at least can attend state colleges at a reduced rate so that this job could lead to certification. That would give them highly motivated candiates for the job.

For what it is worth, I think it is a crime that a) paraprofessionals are paid squat, and b) there are no uniform, real requirements for people who work so closely with children and who do so much FOR them. I have begun research into working with several organizations to create a career track that makes some sense. I believe that paraprofessionals--tutors who work with small groups, who teach valuable study skills, who understand learning styles and can tune in to how individual kids learn.. or DON'T learn, will be more and more necessary. I have no idea whether I will succeed, but I have begun trying, and hope to be able to devote most of my time to doing so for the next year. Fancy learning centers are no answer to most kids' needs--I think all of YOU are the answer. Thank you for your hard work, despite the few benefits.

Many years ago i had the privilege of being a "teacher's aide" under the "CETA" program. Because of my background I was a language arts assistant, working with ALL sorts of kids on their writing skills. I had small groups and individuals and worked with each teacher to develop the ways in which I might be most effective. It was the best job I'd ever had and I really was developing a program for the school. The funding was dropped, naturally, so it was a one year job. I made about $7.00/hour, but I had insurance and I worked during the summer as whatever they wanted--a math tutor in the high school summer school. that was fine with me.

Now I am fifty-five, have been a professional writer for universities and some large nonprofits, but would love to return to the work I love. I want to start a nonprofit program that helps kids with learning and homework skills, that helps PARENTS learn how to work with their own children. To work with the forgotten kids-- the ones whose parent(s) work so many hours they don't have the time to give to their kids they might like. The kids who are NOT labeled as having "special needs" but who would benefit from someone guiding them with homework, with organization and study skills, with a bit of drill on the backs and that reinforcement of an adult who tells them they are doing FINE.

So I began to research the field and realized that people have not used what pathetic monies there are for paraprofessional educators--all of the focus is on children with "special needs" and on pre-school and early childhood. I believe that a true profession of paraprofessionals in education could be an answer to many problems facing children in public schools, facing TEACHERS as well. I am thoroughly appalled at the lack of formal training for TUTORING. Working with individuals and small groups, keying in to individual learning styles and types of intelligence, understanding the dynamics in one-on-one work and small group work--these things call on skills that are different from teaching, often. There could be a two-year, or even a one-year certificate program for people with two and four-year degrees that would offer focus on whatever aspects of being a learning professional we chose. That could overlap with some of the existing areas, yes, but we could focus on the types of intelligence and how they translate into learning styles--how we can work to those individualized styles. We could focus on the curriculum goals for transitional grades--third or fourth grades, the transition into middle school, how to help kids prepare for cumulative tests.

There is so much that teachers can no longer address because of the increased pressure to have children do well on tests, that a trained professional could offer.

Yet it looks as if I was paid far better, proportionally, when I was an aid in the seventies than trained paraprofessionals are today. It is appalling. I don't know how successful one person like me can be in trying to offer help that doesn't cost parents $50/hour or more, with only $10-11/hour going to the person working with their children. It seems to me that, even at the part-time level of employment, we should be able to offer paraprofessionals $15-20/hour. Yes, less than starting teachers in this state, but something that is commensurate with the training and good work that paraprofessionals do.

I'm a dreamer. It just is such a shame for the field to lose good people because we do not value the people we ask to be responsible for the futures of our children. ALL our children. To those of you who wrote in or who read all these things, please know that some of us DO see that you have been under-compensate and WAY undervalued for too long.

I am a part time para , I need help please , trying to find a class to pass the exam for the paraprofessional everywhere I have called has eliminated there programs because of the economy.