Instructional Team Training: Delivering Live, Internet Courses to Teachers and Paraprofessionals in Utah, Idaho and Pennsylvania

Abstract

Shortages of fully qualified special education teachers have been present in rural, suburban and urban America since the formal inception of special education. Public schools have mitigated special education teacher shortages by hiring paraprofessionals. Though hiring of paraprofessionals has been common practice, it is becoming more difficult to recruit and retain paraprofessionals once hired due to factors related to, or exacerbated by, the lack of pre-service training that teachers receive to effectively supervise paraprofessionals. In response to this training need, a project developed, implemented, and evaluated two live internet-based real-time video and audio courses delivered to teachers and paraprofessionals in Rexburg, ID, Turbotville, PA, and Brigham City, UT. Teachers and paraprofessionals were presented with skills needed to build and maintain effective instructional teams. This article describes the need for the courses, format used for delivery, and course evaluation data.