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Paraprofessional Support

A paraprofessional is a specially trained, credentialed educational worker who supports students in school under the supervision of a teacher. A paraprofessional may be referred to as a paraeducator, special education paraprofessional, teaching assistant, instructional assistant, or ed tech.

Paraprofessionals bring immeasurable value to the classroom. Students with disabilities, or those who need additional instruction, require extra attention in order to help them understand the lesson. Paraprofessionals help teachers save valuable class time by working with these students and helping them keep pace with their peers. Without the added help, students can fall further behind.

In partnership with the School Districts, UWS is funding a paraprofessional position at selected schools of focus. Paraprofessionals work with children in kindergarten or 1st grade classrooms to increase literacy scores of children not reading on grade-level. UWS is currently providing this support at the following schools:

 

DESOTO
  • Memorial
  • Nocatee
  • West

HILSBOROUGH

  • Sulphur Springs
  • James
  • Kenly
  • Palm River
  • Reddick
  • Robles
  • Woodson

MANATEE

  • Ballard
  • Daughtrey
  • Manatee
  • Oneco
  • Palmetto
  • Palm View
  • Rogers Garden
  • Samoset

PINELLAS

  • Campbell Park
  • Lealman Ave
  • Maximo
  • Ponce De Leon
  • Sandy Lane

Every participating school is allocated $1,000 annually in discretionary funds. These funds can be utilized to support school activities, buy school supplies, or purchase items for children in need.

Additionally, each classroom with a paraprofessional receives a para kit, which is given directly to the families of children working with the para. The kits include a dry-erase book, flashcards, a bookmark, a pencil, and a pencil grip.

Students have shown significant improvement in their phonological awareness and phonics skills.
We saw our scholars increase in their letter and sound knowledge and sight recognition. You can see they are more confident in reading.
The intentionality in selecting our scholars for this program is what made it successful. In addition, our paraprofessional was very knowledgeable and knew when we needed to come together as a team to discuss data and make changes throughout the school year.
Most notably, schools that maintained regular involvement with their paraprofessionals saw encouraging results reflected in their data. Specifically, Palm View Elementary stood out as their first-grade cohort teachers achieved the top proficiency ratings across the district (33 schools). When asked, the principal attributed this success to the collaboration with the United Way cohort.