News

Effective July 23, 2023, there will be changes to paraeducator minimum employment requirements. Previous legislation had specifically allowed for only one assessment to meet the requirement. That has now changed.

HB 1015 passed during the last legislative session, granting the Paraeducator Board the authority to approve the assessments, and set the passing scores, that will meet minimum employment requirements for paraeducators in Washington.

New Requirements

At the May board meeting, the Paraeducator Board selected the following assessments and passing scores to meet the minimum employment requirements:

Effective beginning July 23, 2023:

ETS ParaPro assessment: 455 (from 461 current)

Pearson Paraprofessional assessment: 220 (that score is equivalent to the 50 out of 72 scorable multiple choice questions set by the Board)

The Master Teacher Inc. Paraeducator Online Training Program: 65%

Key Points

• The Board was also granted authority to create its own assessment and will be exploring that option in the 2023-24 school year.
• PESB staff are working with ETS to contact ParaPro assessment takers who scored 455-460, dating back to July 2019, to notify them that they will meet minimum employment requirements come July 23rd.
• Pearson’s Paraprofessional assessment will not be available for implementation at the effective date.
• There are two components to The Master Teacher Inc. Paraeducator Online Training Program: a knowledge and an instructional component. Candidates must earn 65% on each to meet the passing score threshold for the assessment.

Questions and more information

PESB staff will host a webinar on June 15th at 2 p.m. to discuss this topic and answer your questions. Registration is required.

A recording of the webinar will be made available on the PESB YouTube channel.

Paraeducator Reimbursement Program – FP 918 – has now been posted on iGrants. Districts and ESDs can now access the application and must submit their first update by April 21. Assistance opportunities and highlighted changes in the application can be found below.

The application has been updated with the following changes:

Three cohorts of paraeducators:

• New Paraeducators – 28 hours of training on Fundamental Course of Study (FCS)
• Continuing Paraeducators – 14 hours of training on FCS
• Continuing Paraeducators who completed the FCS – 14 hours of training on General Certificate

Final reports are now due October 2nd (instead of September 1 – based on district feedback)

• Districts that complete their training by June 30 can submit their final report by July 7
• Districts that submit by July 7 will be reimbursed on the September apportionment

In lieu of the external Spring survey, we are gathering data on paraeducators directly in the iGrants application itself. The two data areas include:

• Paraeducator vacancies
• Training hours that go unreimbursed in the all-or-nothing model

Ways to connect with us for assistance:

We are hosting two webinars to walk through completing the first report for this form package. Please register ahead of time using the following links:

Thursday, April 6 at 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 12 at 10:30 a.m.

We will host additional webinars to support the next reporting deadlines. Dates will be announced closer to each deadline.

Please come with your questions, and we look forward to seeing you!

Can’t make it to one of the webinars above? The webinar will be recorded, sent to those that registered, and uploaded to our PESB YouTube Channel.

Other ways to connect:

Don’t forget about the weekly office hours open to implementation leaders.

Talk with us Tuesdays – 3:00-4:00 weekly: https://bit.ly/pesb_officehours_tues

Have paraeducators with questions? We have office hours for paraeducators too!

Questions Welcome Wednesdays – 3:00-4:00 p.m. weekly: https://bit.ly/pesb_officehours_wed

Beginning in 2022-23, districts must now provide all four days (28 hours) of FCS training to their paraeducators every school year. Previously, only two days were required. Read the announcement.

On Friday, March 25, members of the Professional Educator Standards Board unanimously approved to adopt the newest set of cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion (CCDEI) standards for Washington educators. View the announcement.

We are accepting proposals from consultants interested in leading a project to review and revise the current curriculum for the Recruiting Washington Teachers (RWT) and Bilingual Educators Initiative (BEI) programs. View the announcement.

Agenda and materials are now available for our March board meetings. View the announcement.

We’re excited to announce a virtual paraeducator listening session on March 29, from 4 to 6 p.m. This event is an opportunity for our Paraeducator Board members to hear directly from paraeducators about their roles throughout the pandemic, and their experience receiving training on the Fundamental Course of Study and General Paraeducator Certificate. View the announcement.