Are paraprofessionals appropriately trained and educated when working in the early childhood special education setting?

摘要

This action research project focused on the roles and responsibilities of Early Childhood Special Education paraprofessionals and how they are trained and evaluated through the school district they work for. The action research examines the research to answer research questions determined by the researcher. The instrumentation that was used within this study consisted of specific surveys for the administrators to complete, ECSE teachers, and ECSE paraprofessionals to complete and provide their feedback to greater the data collection. The findings within this study revealed that, although the new qualifications for ECSE paraprofessionals require more education and training to work in the ECSE setting, school districts are working hard to contribute and give each paraprofessional appropriate and beneficial training and education. The results of this study made the researcher interested to see if they were to greater the area of school districts involved, would the data stay the same. This is a recommendation for future study on this topic.