A special education teacher often works with at least one paraprofessional in delivering academic instructions, behavioral and social support. When teachers and paraprofessionals effectively work together, students with disabilities and their families benefit greatly. For example, Brock and Carter (2017) found that when special education teachers and paraprofessionals actively participated in professional development, the levels of social interaction increased among children with severe disabilities. More recently, Mehta et al. (2019) assessed a paraprofessional-led service model refined through processes of trust establishment and shared decision-making between teachers and paraprofessionals across 16 schools in the U.S. Their findings showed that paraprofessionals were able to successfully implement behavioral interventions and facilitate parental participation. 

Building collaborative teacher-paraprofessional relationships also buffers against the turnover of teaching workforce. Although there is an increase in the overall number of paraprofessionals, the number of special education teachers has decreased due to high attrition rate in the U.S. (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019). In a review of factors associated with attrition and retention, Billingsley and Bettini (2019) found that special education teachers most often leave their roles because of stressful working conditions, including overwhelming workloads and demanding classroom management responsibilities. However, emotional support and job satisfaction were enhanced when they received support from paraprofessionals and school administrators (Billingsley & Bettini, 2019). Paraprofessionals are similarly inclined to stay when working in supportive school cultures. For example, paraprofessionals reported that developing collaboration, mutual respect, and open communication are key to retention (Ghere and York-Barr 2007). 

The Teacher-Paraeducator Interactions Framework (Cipriano et al., 2016) was developed from a series of classroom observations to assess partnerships between teachers and paraprofessionals. Based on this framework, Barnes et al. (2021) uses the lenses of solidarity, role clarity and respect to illustrate best practices for collaboration that support special educators in team building and classroom management: 

• To promote solidarity, teachers and paraprofessionals can defer to one another, make sure the consistency and alignment of tasks and information. For example, a paraprofessional can confirm with the teacher whether it is time to guide the child to the next assignment. Reciprocally, the teacher should check-in with the paraprofessional about the student’s progress through the lesson. Using “we” language in the classroom is another strategy to kindle the teamwork spirit. Listening to and reinforcing each other’s perspective ensures a clearer and more cohesive learning experience for the student. 

• Role clarity is another important factor in collaboration. Following conversations with school administrators, teachers should get a sense of paraprofessionals’ expertise, interests, and strengths while communicating role expectations. Teachers are also encouraged to participate in hiring processes to ensure a good fit. Open and consistent communication between teachers and paraprofessionals provides support in clarifying roles and responsibilities (Barnes et al. 2021).

• Teachers and paraprofessionals should respectfully acknowledge one another’s role in the classroom. For teachers, building respectful relationships can manifest as understanding a paraprofessional’s needs and strengths and matching the task with their current skills and training (Giangreco et al., 2010). A sense of respect can be promoted in daily interaction using both verbal and non-verbal communication, like using a warm tone and affirming expressions when making requests, making eye-contact, using body language, and sending thank-you notes to compliment team members’ work and achievement. 

Maintaining a solid team, clear role and respectful communication make effective teacher-paraprofessional collaboration possible, which in turn benefits students’ academic, personal, and employment outcomes. 

By Yu Xia, Research Assistant at the Center for Social Development and Education