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In school districts across the country, paraeducators may be referred to as teacher aides, teacher assistants or instructional aides. They’re all individuals who work in schools under the supervision of a licensed educator and provide support to teachers and students. They may work with students to reinforce learning, implement behavior intervention plans or work closely with school nurses to support students’ medical needs. They may lead small reading groups or assist in planning mini-lessons with their lead teacher. Some are working towards becoming licensed educators. In Arizona and states around the country, they might also be a part of a Next Education Workforce ™ team-based models, where their skills are strengthened through collaboration. 

With the assistance of an Opportunity Now grant, rural Colorado schools will be able to explore teaching in team-based models with the Next Education Workforce™ initiative at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. Here, Andrea LaRocca, senior program manager for the Next Education Workforce, shares how teams of educators with distributed expertise can be more effective, support equity and improve learning outcomes. Learn more about the model and how rural Colorado schools can access resources to get started. 

For the last four years, the Next Education Workforce™ team at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College has collaborated with more than 20 school systems across a dozen states to help build team-based staffing models in more than 80 schools. When we say, “team-based staffing models,” what do we really mean?