How School Leaders Can Guide the Work of Paraeducators

Anyone in education who understands school improvement will tell you how critical paraeducators, or “paras,” are for the academic and social and emotional success of pre-K through 12 students. They will probably also tell you just how overlooked, and undertrained, paraeducators often are.

“I do four hours of lunch and recess, and I love the kids, but I just wasn’t trained to handle everything they are going through… it’s a lot of emotions, and we are struggling.” —Grade 6 paraeducator

Covering any number of roles and responsibilities across a given school day, paraeducators are seen as one of the drivers of a school, just as critical to operations as the administrative secretary, and called on to provide academic and emotional support for special education students in one-to-one capacities, cover classes, manage lunch duty and recess, and make instructional materials, to name a few. 

Paraeducators’ daily work places them in the pulse of the school. They know what’s really going on, and they’re intimately poised to support students at their greatest times of need.

So how do school leaders guide them to think preventively and act responsively?

Para-Aware

First, paraeducators should be self-aware, able to understand their own backgrounds and lived experiences as students, flexible in their mindsets, loving to their own selves, and willing to practice self-care in order to be as healthy and grounded as possible in service of themselves first and then the children.

Second, paraeducators should be student-aware and able to work trauma responsively by recognizing and responding, not reacting, to students’ emotional and behavioral needs with empathy, patience, and consistency, while fostering a sense of safety and trust through supportive relationships in word and action.

Third, paraeducators should be school-aware, creative in their problem-solving, and able to adapt to the varying needs of students, recognizing that not one single tool will be a catch-all for student support while consistently applying the following considerations in their approaches around the school.

School administrators need to remind paraeducators of the below norms. 

• Your responsiveness or reaction will often dictate the response of the student.
• You deserve good, regulated mental health daily in school, especially when working trauma adjacent. A mentally healthy staff member is able to provide stable, compassionate support for students; model positive coping strategies; and create a safe, nurturing environment that fosters both academic and emotional growth.
• Your ability to work in a culturally responsive way affirms the backgrounds and lives of every student in the building. Listening to their stories and needs without judgment or bias breeds trust and gives them a safe place to land with you.

School administrators can ensure that paras are aware of the following important points.

• Invest in relationships daily: Trust is fundamental in helping students feel secure enough to engage in learning and express their needs.
• Recognize triggers: Understand common trauma triggers that may affect students, such as loud noises, sudden changes in routine, or specific types of interactions. Positive, healthy relationships with students will give paraeducators the ability to identify signs of distress or dysregulation and respond calmly, using de-escalation techniques (active listening, providing a safe space to de-escalate, offering choices, modeling calm behavior) to help students regain a sense of control and safety.
• Build environment: Collaborate with teachers to build a structured environment with clear expectations, routines, and boundaries. This stability helps students feel secure and reduces anxiety.
• Validate student’s emotional experiences: Show understanding by reflecting back what the student says, such as “It sounds like you had a tough morning. Do you want to share more about what happened?” “I see you are mad; is there anything I can do to help?”
• Use the tools of the trade: Paraeducators can promote emotional regulation and coping skills by modeling mindful moments to breathe and decompress, as well as to redirect unsafe physical behavior into creative energy (e.g., making art, listening to music, drawing, collecting and breaking down recycling, building something with a trusted peer), positive self-talk, and physical activities that relax and stabilize the body and mind (mindful walking, meditation, gently tapping points on the body—like the collarbone over the heart to reduce stress and tension—massaging joints, jumping up and down, stretching, and jogging).
• Share a love language: Paraeducators can frame student support with language that empowers and focuses on constructive, not rigid, thinking. “You’re making great progress on this passage—reading can be hard, and you can do hard things.” “I am excited to see how much more you can accomplish on these math problems, and I’m here if you need me.” “You showed a lot of determination by completing that assignment even though it was challenging.” “I can see that it really frustrated you, but I really like the way you took your time to try it.”
• Ask for help: Paras are expected to do so much, but they cannot be expected to have all the answers—no one does. They are not alone in this work; it is critical to ask questions and engage in this work with other paras and teachers.

Prioritizing student safety and social and emotional wellness means that school staff, and especially adults who consistently support students, deserve to all be provided with the same access to tools, training, and mental health support.

School systems need to continue to work to prioritize targeted professional development, enhance communication, and create a supportive work environment that values and affirms paraeducators’ roles in the school community. They deserve it, and so do our students.