Are You a 'Highly Qualified' Paraprofessional?
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as The No Child Left Behind Act, requires that all paraprofessionals who work in programs funded by Title I prove that they are “highly qualified.”
There are three ways that paraprofessionals may prove they are highly qualified:
- Complete an associate degree OR
- Complete two years of college OR
- Demonstrate knowledge of reading, writing, math, and the ability to assist in instructing these subjects.
- This demonstration must be met through a state or local academic assessment, which does not necessarily mean a pencil and paper test.
We have created a short interactive quiz to help you determine:
- Whether or not you are required to meet the ESEA's standards of a "highly qualified" paraprofessional, and
- Whether you meet the highly qualified standards through your education.
If the online quiz does not determine that you are qualified, you should know that states and local school districts have adopted a variety of ways for paraprofessionals who do not have an associate degree and who have not completed two years of college to demonstrate that they are highly qualified.
Many districts are using the ParaPro Assessment test developed by ETS.
On this Web site we have created three short interactive refresher tests in math, reading and writing, based on the kinds of questions asked by the ETS test.
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