The Successful Implementation of a Highly Specific Preschool Instructional Program by Paraprofessional Teachers

1 Supported by funds from the U S . Office of Education. Bureau of Research, Grant 5-1181. Contract OE 6-10-235 and the Ollice of Economic Opportunity, Leadership Development Program for Administrators of Preschool Centers for t h e Disadvantaged. Granls CG 0064 and CG 9889. Harold Howe (1969), former U.S. Cornmissioner of Education, emphasized in his recent report on the state of the education professions that the levels of responsibility of paraprofessional staff must be extended if we are to improve the educational chances of children from the ghetto and the rural slum through rewarding early childhood experiences. Commissioner Howe concluded that the states must be “encouraged to recruit and train teacher aides as well as members of the local community who have not previously been involved in education” and the local gchool systems must be helped to find “new ways of using existing resources of the community, benefiting not only the schools but also making a substantial contribution toward the creation of new careers for members of the community” (p. 10). It was the intent of this study to determine whether a paraprofessional teaching staff indigenous to a poverty area could, through sustained inservice training and daily supervision, implement a highly specific preschool instructional program. Intervention effectiveness was evaluated by comparing the performance on a battery of standardized tests of children taught by paraprofessionals with that of children taught by a professional staff implementing the same instructional program. The study was conducted over a three-year period. During the first year, two classes were taught by a professional staff. During the third year, two classes were taught by paraprofessionals: one class was staffed by Negro mothers who had no previous teaching experience and no formal education beyond high school: the other was taught by 16and 17-