Education Support Professionals (ESPs)

We're NEA ESPs and Proud of It!

Highlights:

Honoring the Picket Line (Part II)
Strike Breakers Only Add Fuel to the Fire
The Lowdown on Living Wage Campaigns
Report provides background on living wage campaigns and NEA's involvement with these efforts.
State Report
Saving cafeteria jobs, the Free Choice Act targeted, plus our report card.
ESPs: Outsourcing Experiment Ends in Failure
The three-year experiment of outsourcing 15 percent of school bus routes in Naperville Community Unit School District 203 ended in failure earlier this year.
ESPs Deserve a Living Wage
Support professionals are woefully underpaid, often barely able to afford to live in the communities they serve.
ESP - Curing Sick Building Syndrome
Spring cleaning! It's serious stuff for healthy schools.
ESPs: Outsourcing Experiment Ends in Failure
Repetitive Stress Injury Handbook: Introduction
Education support professionals can suffer from hand and wrist disorders, back and neck injuries, and muscle strains due to repetitive motions or awkward work positions.
ESPs in Review
What do support professionals earn? And which state has the most ESP members? Check out our stats.
Cleaning Schools for Health, Not for Appearance
Custodians learn to adapt in a world of budget cuts, green cleaning, and those ubiquitous germs.
A Call to Action
Professional development, long recognized as important for teachers and administrators, is coming into its own and gaining fast momentum for support professionals.
Education Support Professionals Call Rasmussen's Oregon Victory 'Historic'
She is the first ESP to be elected OEA President. Additionally, she is the first office Black American to serve in the state affiliate's highest office.
2009 ESP of the Year
Afterschool program creator, special education trainer and union activist Kathie Axtell earned the National Education Association's ESP of the Year Award.
Custodian Pat Nicholson of Washington State Wins First CLEAN Award
We are the first line of defense of public health in our schools.
Meet ESPs from Other Countries

About Education Support Professionals

NEA's Education Support Professional (ESP) members, one-half million and growing, take care of our children every day and make sure they have the tools they need to succeed in our schools and classrooms. We are the...

school bus driver who greets your child with a warm "hello" and delivers him safely to school
cafeteria worker who gives your daughter a warm, healthy meal
paraeducator who provides your child with a little extra help in the classroom
school nurse who comforts your sick child
office assistant who makes sure your son's records are up to date
technician who wires the classroom computers
custodian who works to keep schools clean
security professional who helps keep students safe.

We make up more than 40 percent of the total K-12 education workforce. We are a critically important part of the school community. Learn more about what we do in ESP Jobs.

We directly affect student learning.

In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the bus drivers in the Pennsbury School District link bus safety activities with the language arts and social studies curriculum for kindergartners.
In Broward County, Florida, paraprofessionals supervise and train students to run a peace center where they learn peer mediation.
Reeths-Puffer, Michigan, food-service staff teach nutrition to student and parent groups and provide tasty, economical catering for staff parties.
A custodian in Topsham, Maine, counsels elementary school teachers on selecting safe classroom materials.

We bring years of experience to our jobs.

On average, K-12 ESP members have nearly 11 years of experience in education support work.

We are dedicated to students and schools.

Nearly 95 percent of K-12 ESPs surveyed in 1997 said they planned to stay in education.test

We have strong ties to the community. Nearly 80 percent of us...

volunteer time to community organizations or activities
live in the school districts where we work

We've put together this ESP section of the National Education Association's Web site to help parents, community members, and other educators gain a better understanding of Education Support Professionals, and to provide resources that will help ESP's meet today's challenges and do our jobs better. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please send us an e-mail.test

Video

2009 ESP of the Year
Meet Kathie (in her own words) in this excerpt from WEA¹s video portrait of the 2009 ESP of the Year.