Anchor Lead: “No Child Left Behind” is bringing sweeping changes to the nation’s schools. The law requires students in certain grades to be tested annually on core subjects, and then sets strict timelines for schools to show improvement in their scores. It also requires schools to hire only what it defines as “highly qualified” teachers, including one group of educators who until now have gotten little attention … paraprofessionals. They are the tutors, the translators, the people who help in the special education classrooms. Now, for the first time, certain paraprofessionals must meet new standards by the beginning of next year, and thousands are now hurrying to comply.

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“Let’s get our new books out.”

In a small, empty classroom at Lyon Elementary in Tacoma, Sheila Cole sits at a table with two lively first graders.

“Ok, you can start first this time.”

Michaela and Anyse take turns reading out loud from picture books. Cole follows along and helps them through the tough parts.

“M..e..l..t..e..d, oh, melted on Paco’s lap. Does that say lap? I mean pants. There we go.”

Cole spends a good part of her day working with kids who need extra help learning to read. There are a lot of them at Lyon Elementary, an inner city school where a majority of kids come from low-income families.

COLE: And then they have parents that, you know, may not have the basic skills to help with their homework. Some parents may not be home when they get home after school, some of them work nights. Single parent homes. So I think it’s a struggle for a lot of our kids.

And more and more, the people charged with helping the most struggling kids are the so-called paraprofessionals, or paraeducators. That’s a fancy name for people who used to be called “teachers aides.” Their job, traditionally, has been to assist teachers in the classroom. But at many schools, including Lyon, they act almost like teachers themselves, providing additional instruction to the neediest kids, according to Pili Wolf, the school’s principal.

WOLF: They are extremely important to the program because they provide a double dose and sometimes a triple dose of intensive work for kids in areas they are missing. This way children are getting the attention they need and getting more direct instruction at what they need.

The reason that job falls to paraprofessionals is a matter of simple economics. Wolf says for the price of every one teacher, she can hire two paraprofessionals, who in some cases earn as little as 8 dollars an hour. Paraprofessionals are paid less because, for the most part, they do not have the formal training required of teachers.

In fact, a 1999 study found that the vast majority of paraprofessionals nationwide had only high school diplomas and that most were spending at least part of their day instructing students on their own, without supervision.

That situation did not sit well with education officials. Rene Islas is a special assistant in the US Department of Education.

ISLAS: There are some important instructional strategies and very kind of complex instructional strategies that need to be in place to have students learn to read. And with paraprofessionals playing that role, we didn’t think that was adequate and the science kind of supports without that training those paraprofessionals probably wouldn’t have that much success getting the most struggling readers, or at risk readers, up to the standards that they need to be for success.

So when education officials drafted the “No Child Left Behind Act,” which raises the bar for student and teacher performance, they included a section in the law that for the first time sets standards for paraprofessionals. Any paraprofessionals who instruct students in so-called Title I programs—those are programs that receive federal money for low-income, at risk students—must have either an Associates degree or two years of college, or else pass an equivalency exam. Rene Islas says that the law is meant to ensure that all paraprofessionals are at least minimally qualified to teach.

ISLAS: Paraprofessionals play a very important role and we needed to make sure that just as we are focused on highly qualified teachers, we have well-qualified paraprofessionals or teachers aides for students to achieve the high goals expected by “No Child Left Behind.”

The new standards, which were first put forth in 2002, affected more than 7,000 paraprofessionals in Washington state — and close to two-thirds of them were not qualified under the new rules.

Of particular concern: the thousands of bilingual paraprofessionals who work in schools with large immigrant populations. They do a variety of tasks, from translating to communicating with parents to tutoring non-English speaking students. Many bilingual paraprofessionals speak English as a second or third language, and for them, passing a college level English exam may prove especially challenging.

Spanish is one of 14 languages spoken at Beacon Hill Elementary School in Seattle. Early each morning, the youngest Spanish speaking students gather for extra help learning English.

“Look...at...my...cat. Excellente …”

Most of these kids enter kindergarten speaking only Spanish, and not a single one of them has attended preschool. Their teacher, Chilo Granizo, and is one of the school’s two Spanish speaking paraprofessionals.

GRANIZO: My goal is when they come here to this little group, they can get all the strength that they need to work in kindergarten.

Granizo is a college graduate and a certified teacher in her native Nicaragua. She has won a statewide award for her work with Spanish speaking students. But she struggles to find the right words in English, and she doesn’t think that she will be able to pass the exam.

That is the problem with the new standards, says Susie Murphy, the school’s principal. It makes little difference to the school how well Granizo performs on a standardized test.

MURPHY: Ms. Granizo and the other paraprofessionals need to be able to communicate with the staff and English speaking parents and English speaking teachers, and with the children. But their strength lies in the home language, in the Spanish that they bring and the skills that they have with the children in moving them forward and helping them understand English.

Right now there are more than 4,000 paraprofessionals statewide who have not met the new standards, and the expectation is that some of those people will not qualify by the deadline. Karen Davis is with the Washington Education Association, a labor union that represents thousands of paraprofessionals in the state.

DAVIS: What will happen to the students’ education when those people who currently offer those services can no longer work in that capacity? Will there be people stepping up for the, what, 8, 10, 12 dollars an hour to work in those slots? We’re not so sure that those people are there.

In the short run, the new standards may make it tough for school districts to recruit paraprofessionals, but in the long run, Davis says they may actually help by forcing school districts to raise salaries in order to attract qualified people.

DAVIS: I’ve listed a few things on the board that we’ll be talking about tonight…”

In the meantime, there are places that paraprofessionals can get help. The Tacoma School District is offering classes for paraprofessionals who want to bone up on their English and math.

Really perimeter is add, add, add, add. Add ‘em all up. Area is where you have to multiply.

The nervousness here is palpable. Even though many of these women are experienced instructors, it may have been years since they’ve taken an exam. Linda Creswell gives them pointers on how to mentally prepare.

CRESWELL: Take deep breaths, keep a cool head, and say “Ok, now look, I know I know what I’m doing, let me just look at this again.”

Paraprofessional Sheila Cole is trying to stay optimistic. She has already taken the test once and failed. But now she has hit the books, determined to succeed.

COLE: If I don’t pass it the next time, then I’ll try again. I love my job and I feel my job is worth fighting for. You know, if I have to keep taking the test until I pass, then I will do it.

School officials here and throughout the state will be watching closely to see how their paraprofessionals fare before next year’s deadline … and whether they will have to start looking for new people to fill those jobs.