Schoolwide Planning to Improve Paraeducator Supports‪.‬

********** Increasingly paraeducators (also known as paraprofessionals, teacher aides, instructional assistants) are being utilized as a key service delivery support to assist in educating students with a range of disabilities in general education classrooms (Downing, Ryndak, & Clark, 2000; Giangreco & Doyle, 2002; Minondo, Meyer, & Xin, 2001; Riggs & Mueller, 2001). Although the numbers of paraeducators in special education has grown substantially over the past several years (Pickett, 1999), recent literature persistently suggests that they continue to be underappreciated, undercompensated, and asked to undertake critical instructional responsibilities without sufficient role clarification, planning by qualified professionals, supervision, or training (Giangreco, Edelman, Broer, & Doyle, 2001; IDEA Partnerships, 2001). Ineffective utilization of paraeducators persists in schools even though these same basic issues have been documented in the literature for decades (Jones & Bender, 1993).