Current status and future directions in assessment of paraprofessional practices

Paraprofessionals have become a significant portion of the educational workforce for students with or at risk for needing, or receiving special educational services. Although best practice and federal legislation require supervision of paraprofessionals by certified professional educators, research indicates that supervision rendered to paraprofessionals is often ad hoc, infrequent, and not based on data. We critically examined the availability and validity evidence of existing assessment approaches (published or publically posted) for evaluation and monitoring of paraprofessional practices in schools in the United States. Overall results from a systematic review of research literature and a review of materials made available publically by schools yielded 14 assessment tools with a focus on 18 constructs. Each assessment lacked reliability and validity evidence, and had limited utility for guiding paraprofessional supervision and professional development. Based on the larger paraprofessional literature and availability of assessments, a framework of recommendations for measurement development and validation is proposed. Specifically, we offer suggestions for domains of practice and validation efforts for evaluating forms of reliability, construct validity, and consequential validity for new assessment approaches for these important school personnel.