Meeting the Challenge: Building University-School District Partnerships for a Successful Career Ladder Program for Teachers of English Learners

Abstract

This article describes a career ladder program for paraeducators in which collaborative efforts of a university, community college, and consortium of school districts address the need for preparing teachers of English-language learners. Thirty paraeducators of minority background were supported through the California Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program, California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. This article focuses on (1) the program goals, (2) participant recruitment and retention, (3) participant cohort, and (4) program support. The program was built on the concept of a community of learners in which the participants obtained a B.A. degree and a California Multiple Subject (elementary) Bilingual, Culture and Language Acquisition Development/Culture Language Acquisition Development Credential. This program provided teachers from an underrepresented group to meet the need for credentialed teachers of English learners as well as to diversify the teaching force.