Using Federal Registered Apprenticeships to Help Para-Educators Complete Teachings Degrees-Pathways for Paras

Pathways for Paris - Paraeducator to Teacher Apprenticeship Program

Source:  featuring Dr. Jon Turner, Dr. Reesha Adamson, and Kaylee Picket from Missouri State University.

Date: February, 2025

Link and More Information: https://education.missouristate.edu/SELPS/SpEd/pathways-for-paraprofessionals.htm 

Contacts: Dr. Reesha Adamson radamson@MissouriState.edu 

Executive Summary:

The "Pathways for Paris" program at Missouri State University addresses the teacher shortage, particularly in rural schools, by creating a federally recognized, registered apprenticeship program for paraeducators. This program enables paraeducators to earn their teaching degrees while continuing to work and get paid in their local school districts. Key benefits include immersion in the school environment, intensive mentorship, financial support (being paid during apprenticeship), flexible course delivery (online and synchronous), and customized curriculum relevant to the specific school district. While challenges exist (student capacity, faculty workload, the need for workforce development partnerships), the program demonstrates promising results in teacher preparation, retention, and collaboration among rural school districts.

Key Themes and Ideas:

1. Addressing the Teacher Shortage in Rural Schools:

• The program directly responds to the critical teacher shortage, which is especially acute in rural areas. 
• The program acknowledges the challenge faced by paraeducators who need to maintain their jobs while pursuing a teaching degree.

1. The Apprenticeship Model as a Solution:

• The apprenticeship model is presented as an innovative approach to teacher preparation, drawing parallels with successful apprenticeship programs in other fields (e.g., viticulture).
• The program provides extensive practical experience. Adamson emphasizes, "At minimum apprenticeships have 2,000 hours…within that school setting. So when you think about what that means for a candidate, the amount of time and exposure and understanding that they have of that school setting is exponentially higher than what we do in our teacher training programs."

1. Key Features of the Pathways for Paris Program:

• Partnership: A close collaboration between Missouri State University and over 200 school districts in Missouri.
• Scale: Serving approximately 400 paraeducators.
• Flexibility: Courses are offered asynchronously online or synchronously via Zoom to accommodate working professionals.
• Customized Curriculum: About one-third of the professional education coursework (24 credit hours) can be completed and taught by the school districts, allowing for curriculum tailored to specific school needs (e.g., reading programs, IEP processes). As Adamson says, "as schools are working to cultivate and to kind of grow their own candidates…they can make sure that those individuals are teaching reading in the evidence-based way, but also understand what reading curriculum they're going to be using within that school district." This ensures candidates are better prepared from "day one."
• Financial Support: Paraeducators are paid during their apprenticeship, which offsets tuition costs and provides a sustainable income. Adamson states, "all apprentices are paid…It's going to offset some tuition costs for individuals, but it's also going to help them on that trajectory of knowing that they have a sustainable income with that employment partner."

1. Benefits for Rural Schools:

• Reduced travel for coursework.
• Opportunity to retain local talent. "You're taking your individuals

Transcript

Jon Turner: [00:00:00] Hello, I'm Dr. Jon Turner from Missouri State University, and thank you for joining me today for Rural Schools Unite America. I began my teaching career back in 1989. Oddly enough, I actually graduated from college in 1988, but that was at a time period that if you applied for a teaching job in Missouri, even in rural areas, There were 50 applicants.

Jon Turner: It seems like 1000 years ago now because the teacher shortage hits all school districts. But obviously it's [00:00:30] been a challenge in rural schools for many, many years. A few years ago, just before the pandemic, there was a group of us here at Missouri State that we invited some school leaders around southwest Missouri to come join us and just have conversations about how can higher education and K 12 education work together.

Jon Turner: And even before the pandemic, there was a huge challenge on the teacher shortage, especially in our rural school district. So I remember one of the superintendents for a small rural school district said, you know, we need to figure out a way that we can get our para educators to get into teaching decrees.

Jon Turner: And [00:01:00] and they talked about how the challenges of those para educators, you know, they need their their job as a para educator in their school. And that makes it really hard for them to complete their teaching degree at the university and the university wasn't working with them very well. So we heard that message and we began to explore around and try to find out alternative ways that we can help people get their, teaching certificate, with a, university 

Jon Turner: We had to figure out a way that we could work with these school districts, especially our smaller rural school districts and help their para educators complete their degree. And that's where we [00:01:30] struck on the idea of apprenticeships. Now, Missouri State already had an apprenticeship program in viticulture.

Jon Turner: winemaking, but we had really never thought about it in education before. And so we began to explore the opportunities. And I'm proud to tell you today we're to 2025 in January right now,, that Missouri State has one of the largest para educator to teacher apprenticeship programs in the United States.

Jon Turner: It is a federally recognized, registered federal apprenticeship. And so that's what we're going to talk [00:02:00] about today is about the idea of using the apprenticeship model in small rural school districts to help people get their teaching degree while they're continuing to work as paraeducators. And so joining me today, you're going to be hearing.

Jon Turner: A conversation with two people. First of all, Dr. Risha Adamson. She is our associate dean of the College of Education and a member of our special education faculty, and she's one of the co founders. They also label me as a co founder, a co founder of the Pathways for Parents [00:02:30] program. Missouri State University.

Jon Turner: Like I said, one of the largest para educator to teacher pathway programs in the country is now at Missouri State. We work with over 200 school districts in Missouri, and we have approximately 400 para educators now working on their teaching degree. So you're here from Dr Adamson, and then you're also here from Kaylee Pickett.

Jon Turner: And Kaylee is an instructor at Missouri State, and she's the program coordinator for the Pathways for Parents program. So again, hopefully this will be an interesting conversation as we look at alternative [00:03:00] ways that we can help paraeducators complete their teaching degrees by using the apprenticeship model.

Jon Turner: And I want to thank Dr. Adamson and Kaylee Pickett for joining me.

Dolores: How is an apprenticeship different than a traditional pathway to a teaching certificate?

Reesha: The biggest piece that is different is that employment partner. We work with school districts all the time when we're helping train teacher candidates, but many times we're giving our teacher candidates minimal [00:03:30] experience or kind of a taste of what that school environment looks like, where with apprenticeship, they're being fully immersed within 

Reesha: that environment.

Reesha: At minimum, apprenticeships have 2, 000 hours within Employment setting within that school setting. So when you think about what that means for a candidate, the amount of time and exposure and understanding that they have of that school setting is exponentially higher than what we do [00:04:00] in our teacher training programs.

Reesha: Another distinct difference is mentorship. Many times when we are placing even student teachers or practicum experiences within those K through 12 schools, our individuals are getting exposure. For our apprentices, they are getting much more than just that exposure. They are being truly immersed in that environment.

Reesha: The last piece, which is an obvious difference, but it's one that we forget about a lot of times, and it's one of our biggest [00:04:30] barriers to our students is all apprentices are paid. So they're getting money while they are doing these hours, having these experiences. It's going to offset some tuition costs for individuals, but it's also going to help them on that trajectory of knowing that they have a sustainable income, ~um, ~with that employment partner.

Dolores: Why are apprenticeships great for rural schools?

Reesha: They're not having to travel to another city, typically for coursework. They're not having to [00:05:00] travel to another city, ~um, ~for these other pieces. You're taking your individuals that are maybe growing up in that rural community and keeping them there.

Reesha: Immediately transition them directly from high school into community college or a four year institution that has that flexibility. And truly, I think that's one of the pieces that we need to be pushing our four year institutions to do is to make sure that they have course offerings and availability that allow for that flexibility.

Reesha: For that [00:05:30] apprenticeship candidate to be able to stay in that role environment and our pathways program. We have made it so that every class is either asynchronous taught online or synchronous through something like zoom. And we've also made it so ~that ~that About 24 credit hours, almost a third of that undergraduate professional education coursework is actually done and can be completed by that school district.

Reesha: So what that means is that our apprenticeship [00:06:00] candidates don't pay tuition ~on that money ~on those courses, but. The bigger advantage is as schools are working to cultivate and to kind of grow their own candidates, what they can do is they can make sure that those individuals are teaching reading in the evidence based way, but also understand what reading curriculum they're going to be using within that school district.

Reesha: When they're learning about the IEP process, they're learning, yeah, these are best practices for writing and developing IEPs, and here's how you [00:06:30] do it within our IEP. So it allows some of those more applied components to take place, which makes a stronger candidate and ultimately a candidate that's better prepared for that first day.

Reesha: The other piece that I think is really important for our rural communities is that as you're thinking about these individuals, they don't have to be individuals that are coming directly from high school. Maybe they're individuals that are within your community that are. [00:07:00] Your volunteers in your school district that their parents that now their final child has started kindergarten and they're looking for new employment opportunities, but it's really that way to think about who are our population of individuals that could be really strong in our education system that are already invested maybe within that educational community in some aspect, but maybe are not employed there yet and how can we put them on that trajectory for employment 


Dolores: What if we're a small school district and [00:07:30] only have one or two paras that might be interested in an apprenticeship to teaching program? 

Kahleigh: We work with ~several ~several districts across the state of Missouri that are in that situation where they've got maybe one individual or two individuals in their district, they might be a rural remote district who ~don't ~don't have a lot of people kind of right next to them to partner up with and what we've done is we've created some cohorts within our state.

Kahleigh: And how it all kind of started was with our LACE groups, which are our local administrators of special [00:08:00] education. So in Missouri, our administrators of special education have ~like ~professional groups that they meet with, ~um, ~that are surrounding. Districts. ~Um, ~and we also have the RPDC in Missouri, which is our regional professional development.

Kahleigh: So we use those areas to kind of identify a person within that area who is a strong special education leader for pathways. And we allowed them to kind of reach out to their peers in neighboring communities and say, Hey, [00:08:30] we're going to run this program. Do you have anyone that's interested and ~we can ~we can share the load.

Kahleigh: So what we've Got going on now are some really great cohorts where the districts that participate take turns, ~um, ~maybe teaching some of the coursework or they might, ~um, ~pay another, pay one of those districts to take their individuals if they don't have the capacity to teach it themselves. ~Um, ~and It's a joining of smaller districts who may not have that capacity.

Kahleigh: They come together and one person will teach the coursework for those individuals [00:09:00] that semester and also act as kind of a special education mentor for them. We know that there are some districts where There may not be a certified special education teacher in the building, or there may be one who's certified but doesn't have the training, ~um, ~the traditional training, ~um, um, ~in special education.

Kahleigh: So it's been nice to be able to provide everyone with some sort of special education, ~um, ~leader who has that experience and who wants to mentor individuals in that way. It's been really promising so far.

Kahleigh: So we want to make sure that [00:09:30] our students that graduate with Missouri State University degree in teaching are well prepared and that they meet the same kind of expectations that our building administrators would expect from anyone with a teaching degree from Missouri State. So we want to make sure we control quality across our coursework, even those that are being taught in our district.

Kahleigh: So what we do is, each semester, our ~um, individuals that are going, ~we call them our PLA instructors, anyone who's going to be teaching a course to our apprentices out in the field, they attend a [00:10:00] Zoom meeting with me each semester, and I train them similar to how we would train an adjunct professor here at the university.

Kahleigh: So we show them The syllabi, we show them the course outcomes, we give them all of the materials that they would need to implement the course on a basic level that meets all of our objectives. We also give them maybe some project ideas, some applied activity ideas that other people have done before that we think would be cool.

Kahleigh: And then we tell the district, you know, implement this, [00:10:30] this is our baseline curriculum and then add to it as you feel. ~Um, Is appropriate for people so ~we've had districts that, ~you know, ~say we have a reading PLA class where they're teaching the basics of assessing and delivering instruction and reading and written expression.

Kahleigh: We have some districts who have done that and then they've also grouped their peers in for the reading curriculum training that all of their new teachers are getting for example. ~Um, ~we've also have we have some districts that for our practicum classes where they're attending IEP meetings that [00:11:00] they are, ~you know, ~attending those meetings and then maybe debriefing together and doing some things like that.

Kahleigh: So the school districts are able to kind of go above the baseline of curriculum that's required. To be taught and add in those applied experiences that will make that teacher candidate really strong for them when they're ready to take on a classroom on their own.

Dolores: What is the biggest challenge for developing an apprenticeship program to prepare paraeducators?

Kahleigh: I think some of the, ~um, ~challenges that we've seen so far is student, ~um, ~[00:11:30] capacity and ability to go back to school full time. So we have some of our paras who, they drive a morning bus route, they're a paraprofessional all day in a elementary self contained classroom, and then they drive an afternoon bus route.

Kahleigh: And by the time they get home at. Five o'clock, they're white and they have to go to class and do homework and do all that kind of stuff too. So that's been hard. ~Um, ~and that's been a piece that as faculty, we've had to kind of reframe our brains to think like that. These are not our traditional college students who show up to our 9 a.

Kahleigh: m. classes. These are working [00:12:00] professionals who have ~long, ~long days in our field. ~So we can kind of. We can kind of feel for him in that way, but, um, ~making sure that our parents have the bandwidth and have the availability to focus on their studies, ~um, ~is one piece that we constantly are coming up against because we know that they have lives, but we also know that it's really important to learn this content.

Kahleigh: And be proficient at it so that they can be prepared for their teaching careers in the future. ~And ~we see a similar issue with school districts themselves who are implementing our coursework, just the capacity that our teachers have out there in K 12 settings [00:12:30] right now. It can be kind of hard to take on an additional role.

Kahleigh: So successful things that we've seen with our PLA instructors have been districts being kind of flexible as to What they can take off of that PLA instructors plate so that they have the ability to really truly mentor these teacher candidates and make sure that they're getting the content that they need.

Kahleigh: And same with our paraprofessionals, we've been able to kind of work with some districts to say like, hey, ~You know, ~if they've got [00:13:00] class on Tuesday, can someone else cover their route on Tuesday afternoon so that they can, you know, go home for a minute before they have to log on to their zoom class and those sorts of things.

Kahleigh: So I think flexibility is a real key point in solving some of these problems. They're not end of the world problems, but they are things that we have to consider so that our students can have the best opportunities.

Reesha: So what I would say is I will ditto everything that Kaylee mentioned, but I'm going to talk about it a little bit from a higher viewpoint. One of the biggest challenges that we have with all of these pieces, and I [00:13:30] think will especially impact our rural communities, is this is truly a partnership with workforce development and many of the funding and resources come from workforce development.

Reesha: And so what that means for these communities is that they one need to establish partnerships with their workforce development area or regional area or center or whatever it may be for their state or their community. The other piece is ~that along with ~that, apprenticeships are new in the education world, where many [00:14:00] other apprenticeships have been around for decades and decades and decades.

Reesha: And so when conversations are happening in your geographical area in your state around apprenticeships. We need to be advocates at the table that are continuously talking about the impact and importance of education, and we do that through our advocacy work, creating those partnerships, being involved in the area and local and state Chamber of Commerce's talking [00:14:30] about the impact and importance of our education and making sure that when priorities are set for workforce development, that we're talking and thinking about education as one of those top priority needs.

Reesha: ~and continuously putting that narrative out there so that individuals know that as they're allocating funds, as they're allocating resources around apprenticeships and around just workforce development, what a critical need it is for our communities to make sure that education is brought up in that conversation and that resources are allocated towards our field.~

Kahleigh: One of our school districts that we partner with is Hollister, Missouri, and their special education director, Dr. Christina Smith, has been a huge advocate for, ~um, ~teacher preparation and especially the apprenticeship model. So what she's done in her district, and she kind of took this on, ~um, ~on her own, which big, big kudos to Dr.

Kahleigh: Smith, [00:15:00] but she created one of the largest, ~um, ~cohort models that we have in the state so far for Pathways for Paras. She's got about 30 individuals from neighboring school districts this year that are taking ~part. ~Part in learning from her learning our PLA coursework through her district. And she's got partners that are in four day district she's got partners that are maybe in suburban areas that just don't have ~the, ~the staff or the ability to offer these kinds of things.

Kahleigh: She's got rural remote districts from corner to corner on southwest Missouri ~I'd say anything under iPhone. ~[00:15:30] Smith's got under control, ~um, ~which is kind of cool to say. ~Um, ~and they've really grown their first semester that they did with us. I think they had ~maybe. ~Maybe eight or nine, ~um, ~apprentices and like I said, this year, this is our third year, they've got 30, ~um, ~that they're doing across, ~um, ~the area ~and ~it's just been really nice ~to be able ~to see her, ~um, ~go out ~and kind of take on, um, ~and use some of her expertise in that way to help out other districts around her ~and ~she always says, ~you know, ~maybe it's not a teacher for Hollister, but if it's a teacher for Reed Springs, I'm just as happy.

Kahleigh: I want good teachers in our classrooms, ~um, ~in front of our students. So we're really proud of what she's been doing. ~Um, ~

Reesha: one of our, Co op [00:16:00] partnerships because many of our rural school districts have co op type models and what one of Franklin County has done is they have taken apprenticeships and really open it up to all of the co op schools.

Reesha: So she knows that ultimately she's helping all of their special education students by helping train all of these schools and she's bringing together that conglomeration of resources and supports. To make sure that our classes are [00:16:30] taught as resources are shared, even as some of the burden is shared, because we know this does take a lot of resources and manpower and support to be able to pull off, even with mentorship, that that's kind of a shared ownership across that entire co op.

Reesha: And so, ~um, ~it's Christina Harbor, who's located there, and she has really done a phenomenal job in bringing together all of these different school districts for the good of the student. ~Um, ~she's [00:17:00] also, by bringing together all these school districts, has been able to advocate for what All of these school districts need how to make sure and one of the biggest pieces of apprenticeship is mentorship, how to make sure that appropriate mentorship is being given to each of these apprentices, even if in those individual schools, they may not have that expertise, but throughout the co op and throughout these neighboring schools and bringing all these resources together.

Reesha: Individuals are able to get that mentorship [00:17:30] and ownership and those pieces so that even if a position is not available again within that direct school, there is probably a position within that co op. And so one of the pieces. ~Um, ~directed back to Dr. Christina Smith that Kaylee mentioned is she actually isn't having turnover taking place right now in her school district and this last year she actually didn't have to hire anyone in special education.

Reesha: Why? Because one, she had kind of a [00:18:00] grow your own track of individuals that they had already slated into positions the year before and two, the quality And the job satisfaction that these individuals have are helping retain them within her school district. And I think that's a piece that we don't really know about apprenticeship right now is all of their retainment pieces because it's so new.

Reesha: But I think we're going to start hearing more and more stories like that that these individuals are so much better prepared for the [00:18:30] realities of what it means to jump into your first year that we're not going to see that cliff. For years three to five where people are exiting the field, we're going to see them being retained and being successful in these communities

Dolores: What are some lessons that you've learned as you've started the Pathways for Paras program that other schools can learn from?

Reesha: ~about lessons learned for us as we've started this apprenticeship process is one that it's a learning model. And we are not going to get things right the first time. ~Things are going to ebb and flow, and I think that's part of the nature of any new programming. I think it's [00:19:00] also thinking about one of our pieces that we've probably grown the most but still have a lot of area to grow is thinking about mentorship.

Reesha: Mentorship is hard. It's one, it takes a lot of time and resources from the K through 12 school side, but also from the university side. But it also takes a lot of thought and process into what makes a good mentor. How do you make sure that you have a good mentor mentee match? How do you ensure that you're continuously providing not only [00:19:30] professional development and training for that apprenticeship candidate, but also for the mentor in developing their skill sets?

Reesha: ~Um, not even necessarily related to teaching, but sometimes just related to mentorship. ~And so I think that is probably the area of growth that we have one grown the most, but probably still have the biggest potential to grow with some of that mentorship piece. We've also from a higher ed institution point have really had to rethink what our advisement looks like.

Reesha: ~Um, ~our advisement process for our pathways candidates for these [00:20:00] apprenticeships, these individuals are different than traditional college students. Many times, one, they're fully employed as well as being college students, but two, they also many times have families and life obligations that go above and beyond what many of our traditional college students have.

Reesha: And so in thinking about that and thinking about for sometimes their transition back to higher education, especially after sometimes gaps in education. There is more training and support that is needed and it has to be provided. And [00:20:30] so I think that's been one of our biggest lessons learned as well. 

Jon Turner: Hopefully you found that interesting with Dr. Risha Adamson, the Associate Dean of the College of Education, Missouri State University, and Kaylee Pickett, who's the program coordinator for Pathways for Paras. If you'd like to hear more about Pathways for Paras, it's probably easy just to Google Missouri State University and Pathways for Paras, or we'll also put a link in the program notes to this podcast.

Jon Turner: Thank you for joining us. Today on Rural Schools Unite America, I'm [00:21:00] John Turner from Missouri State University.