Reclaiming the Promise: Union Advocacy for Paraprofessional-to-Teacher Pathways

American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. 555 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20001. Tel: 202-879-4420; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae

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Unions; Advocacy; Paraprofessional School Personnel; African American Teachers; Hispanic Americans; Teacher Certification; Teacher Education; Career Development; Collective Bargaining; Educational History

0148-432X

Across the country, paraprofessionals in cities are primarily Black and Latina women, and they are far more likely than teachers to live in the district and even the school zone where they work. However the percentages of Black teachers in major city school districts across the nation have declined, while the percentages of census-designated Hispanic teachers have broadly held constant. At the same time, many of these districts have served a majority of Black and Latinx students since the 1960s, when educators, policymakers, and teachers unions first began building and fighting for para-to-teacher pathways. Nick Juravich argues that this is a strategy with a long history and tremendous potential for developing a more diverse teacher corps and connecting teachers and their unions with the communities they serve. Paraprofessionals have long sought opportunities to become teachers. Teaching jobs have offered paths to economic stability to working people for over a century, but beyond the economics, paraprofessionals are already educators. They have intimate, firsthand knowledge of what makes a classroom successful and every reason to believe they could succeed as teachers.

ERIC

2023

EJ1379765