Student, Para, Teacher: Forging Pathways to Success

I knew I’d have to go back to school to become a teacher, but when I compared college costs with my salary, it was so off-putting that I delayed. When I started working as a paraprofessional, starting pay was $16,000 and the maximum was $30,000. That’s embarrassingly low pay for the people who work alongside teachers to help “keep the train on the tracks,” people who are essential for students who need additional attention and support. And that low pay is why many paraprofessionals work multiple jobs just to keep their heads above water and stay a centimeter above the poverty line.

I realized I would have to take out student loans to advance my career, so that’s what I did. I eventually earned an associate degree, then a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education.

What I could not manage was the teaching certification offered as an option alongside my coursework. It required that I take unpaid leave from my job to complete the student-teaching component in a different school district. This was something I simply could not afford to do. I knew of several other paraprofessionals in the exact same boat — literally steps away from being able to teach but facing that same student-teaching hardship.

Real solutions

I spoke with my union leaders at the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers about the obstacles I was facing. Of course they listened, and the seeds for the Para Pathways program were planted.

We were all facing more and more vacancies as teachers retired or left the profession during the pandemic. My union saw that the best potential teachers were already hard at work in classrooms serving children as paraprofessionals — like me — and that alleviating barriers would allow access to the teacher pathway.

We know that paraprofessionals make great educators: Paras know the schools, live in the school community and share similar life experiences with their students. District administrators agreed, and they supported the Para Pathways program to eliminate as much of the financial burden of becoming a teacher as possible. Ultimately the program was written into our contract, making obtaining a degree cost-free for paraprofessionals who make a multiyear commitment to teaching in Philadelphia schools.

Many pathways

Para Pathways offers multiple ways to become a teacher, based on a paraprofessional’s education level. Since I already had my bachelor’s degree, I entered the teacher residency program: I spent one year working under a mentor teacher in a Title I school while taking coursework to obtain my master’s degree in special education.

Alongside me in the residency program were career-changers coming from every profession, ranging from corporate America to the military. All of us were following our passion to become educators. Many of my classmates, especially those coming from careers outside of education, were unprepared for what it meant to teach in urban public schools, and in less than two years, a few had already quit due to burnout and stress.

Many people just don’t understand that educators are not only responsible for content but must take on many roles in the classroom based on the needs of our students, all with a starting salary of around $45,000. Teachers are constantly spending their own money on their students, providing necessities like school supplies and snacks for hungry children. In this school year alone I spent over $1,000 on classroom supplies so I could be effective.

Obstacles remain

Teacher pay is still low, so I still have an additional part-time job. I can’t achieve the American dream of homeownership — and having been a paraprofessional, where the top salary is even lower than the starting salary for teachers, I know firsthand that that dream is out of reach for many of my colleagues, too.

But there’s more. On top of the personal money special education teachers spend, we also spend hours on paperwork that cannot possibly be completed during work hours if we’re expected to actually teach and work with our students.

And, of course, there’s the severe teacher shortage. The “PA Needs Teachers” report from 2023 states that Philadelphia needs 2,015 teachers. In my district, there are about 200 vacancies. Thanks to the Para Pathways program, 100 paraprofessionals will have earned teaching positions and will start this coming year. But, if there is no steady pipeline of teachers from outside of this program, things will not change for the profession.

Each of us is here because a teacher taught us, inspired us, lit a spark and encouraged us to expand our minds and explore our dreams. Becoming a bus assistant, a paraprofessional or a teacher is a respectable profession. As a teacher, I wake up every weekday and make a choice to be an urban educator in a district where many of our school buildings are crumbling due to decades of deferred maintenance and have issues with asbestos, and where many of our students have diverse needs.

How to move forward

We must invest in our teachers but also in our paraprofessionals. If we continue to underinvest in pay and working conditions, the paraprofessionals shortage will rise, the same way the pipeline of teachers has narrowed. I must also acknowledge and fully recognize that my job as a teacher would be impossible to do without my paraprofessional staff.

We can build this profession if we decide to invest in school employees and offer more “grow-your-own” programs. We can build it if the federal government prioritizes funding for those programs. We can build it with programs like Philadelphia’s Para Pathways. I hope more school districts look at its success and consider creating something like it themselves.

Republished with permission from AFT Voices.