Paraeducator–Teacher Teaming Rubric

What are the characteristics of effective teacher-paraeducator teams?

At best, teachers and paraeducators intuitively grasp how their responsibilities fit together in an interdependent manner. This is maintained through awareness and sensitivity to each other and the requirements, demands and activities of the classroom. In the words of one paraeducator, the result is that the team “shares one brain”

At worst, teachers and paraeducators maintain rigidity in roles and cling to a preconception of what a team should be like, or was like in a previous work setting. This leads to work not being done, or not being done well. Members of a poorly functioning team withdraw from one another or compete in attempts to undermine the other person. This results in feelings of isolation and disillusionment.

The well-functioning teacher-paraeducator team:

  1. Plans together
  2. Shares pertinent information
  3. Identifies roles, responsibilities and routines
  4. Identifies record-keeping tasks
  5. Assumes roles as needed
  6. Shares a common definition of success
  7. Knows goals of the classroom
  8. Acts in a unified way
  9. Manages conflict between team members
  10. Pursues professional development
  11. Reflects on team effectiveness
  12. Supports substitute staff
  13. Manages individualized educational plans
  14. Supports the language, cultural and instructional needs of students

A continuum for each of these areas follows and can be used as a tool to gauge paraeducator- teacher teaming.

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Developed by the Puget Sound Education Service District, Paraeducator Program 2005

The teacher-paraeducator team:

1. Plans together
Meets at regularly scheduled times to assess and plan for instructional needs / Meets irregularly to assess and plan for instructional needs or only meets to plan special projects / Uses planning time for individual planning and preparation tasks / Uses planning time for tasks not related to instruction, such as personal issues / Does not schedule or use planning time or joint planning time is not available
2. Shares educationally pertinent information
Shares educationally pertinent information in a two-way manner, such as the teacher giving directions and the paraeducator providing feedback; sharing insights; showing an interest in each others work / Shares educationally pertinent information in a two-way manner but less frequently / Communicates in a one-way manner with little feedback, such as giving directions only, or reporting back only / Communicates during the day with the focus on personal issues / Communicates little or not at all during the day
3. Identifies roles, responsibilities and routines
Identifies, understands, and respects the interdependent roles and responsibilities of the team; knows what needs to be done, by whom and when / Understands most of the other persons roles / Holds the conceptions that roles are independent and separate / Shows confusion as to who does what and when or who makes decisions about what kinds of things / Does not see or agree with the benefit of a team approach built on interdependent roles
4. Identifies recordkeeping tasks

A.Identifies and assigns attendance, student assessment and other recordkeeping tasks

B. Knows the purpose, requirements and system of keeping records. / A. Identifies and assigns some recordkeeping tasks
B. Knows some of the purpose, requirements and system but this is not shared with the paraeducator / A. Identifies the recordkeeping tasks but shows confusion about who is responsible for what
B. Shows confusion about the purpose, requirements and system of keeping records / A. Separates recordkeeping tasks so all are done by the teacher only
B. Knows purpose, requirements and system of keeping records but this is not shared with the paraeducator / A. Does not know of all the recordkeeping tasks
B. Does not understand the purpose or requirements or does not have a system of keeping records
5. Assumes roles as needed (within the terms of job contract)
Assumes the role of the other person temporarily in the classroom when circumstances warrant / Adjusts some roles and tasks temporarily but not with ease or comfort / Has the ability to adjust roles but is reluctant or unwilling to do so / Is unable and unwilling to temporarily assume role or tasks of the other person
6. Shares a common definition of success
Articulates the criteria of team success using a common language, for example, the students are learning; planned activities are complete; the team gains insight on a students; a problem or difficulty is solved / Agrees for the most part on the criteria of team success / Is not able to articulate the criteria of team success / Does not share or unable to agree on the criteria of team success / Disagrees with and opposes the other persons definition of team success

7. Knows goals of the classroom

Knows the goals of classroom instruction and procedures
A. How they align with district and state curriculum goals
B. How they meet other legal and policy requirements / Knows most of the goals of classroom instruction and this is shared most of the time by the teacher with the paraeducator
A. How they align with district and state curriculum goals
B. How they meet other legal and policy requirements / Knows the goals of classroom instruction but this is not shared well by the teacher with the paraeducator
A. How they align with district and state curriculum goals
B. How they meet other legal and policy requirements / Does not know goals of the classroom or misunderstands them
A. How they align with district and state curriculum goals
B. How they meet other legal and policy requirements
8. Acts in a unified way
Uses similar and complimentary approaches to present a unified front when:
  1. Instructing students
  2. Managing student behavior
  3. Interacting with parents and family members
  4. Upholding classroom standards of civility
/ Uses similar approaches most of the time to present a unified front when:
A. Instructing students
B. Managing student behavior
C. Interacting with parents and family members
D. Upholding classroom standards of civility / Uses some similar approaches that may send mixed messages when:
A. Instructing students
B. Managing student behavior
C. Interacting with parents and family members
D. Upholding classroom standards of civility / Uses different and conflicting approaches that compete or undermine the other person when:
A. Instructing students
B. Managing student behavior
C. Interacting with parents and family members
D. Upholding classroom standards of civility
9. Manages conflict between team members
Addresses conflict, differences of opinions and misunderstandings openly as they arise and agrees on mutually satisfactory solutions / Addresses conflict, differences of opinions and misunderstandings but do not agree on solutions or solutions are not lasting / Harbors ill feelings about disagreements until a crisis is reached and issues are temporarily resolved / Avoids conflict, ignores disagreements, gives the other person the silent treatment / Competes openly or covertly to undermine the other person
10. Pursues professional development
Pursues opportunities for professional development together in alignment with school district goals to build a stronger team / Pursues opportunities for professional development separately and shares new learnings with each other / Pursues opportunities for professional development separately and does not share new learnings / Does not pursue opportunities for professional development or does not have opportunities for professional development / Undermines the other persons efforts to improve
11. Reflects on team effectiveness
Reflects regularly on effectiveness of team efforts and incorporates reflections into planning to improve team effectiveness / Reflects occasionally on effectiveness of team efforts and occasionally incorporates reflections into planning / Does not reflect on effectiveness of team or incorporates reflections into planning / Does not see or agree with the benefit of a team approach or participate in efforts to establish or improve team effectiveness
12. Supports substitute staff
Prepares for and supports substitute staff by communicating role expectations and adjusting own role to support the substitute / Prepares somewhat for substitute but does not give clear expectations / Maintains own role and expects the substitute to adapt / Competes openly or covertly to undermine the substitute
13. Manages individualized educational plans
Understands the goals of individualized instruction and the strategies appropriate to their roles for achieving those goals / Knows the goals of individualized instruction and the teacher assigns a limited array of strategies for the paraeducator / Knows the goals of individualized instruction but this is not shared well by the teacher with the paraeducator / Does not know the goals of individualized instruction or misunderstands them / Is not familiar with the IEP

English Language Learner Settings (where the Paraeducator is the interpreter)

14. Supports the language, cultural and instructional needs of students
Shares teacher knowledge of instruction and the paraeducators knowledge of language and culture to understand and instruct student / Shares some of teacher knowledge of instruction and the paraeducators knowledge of language and culture to understand and instruct student / Ignores the specialized knowledge of the other team member / Has no communication of instructional, language and cultural needs of students / Competes openly or covertly to undermine the other person

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Developed by the Puget Sound Education Service District, Paraeducator Program 2005