Overview:
The roles of various school support staff, highlight their contributions, challenges, and best practices for collaboration with teachers.
In Part 1, we took a look at the staff on our campuses that do not have a teaching credential. In Part 2, we’ll introduce you to the various folks outside our school classrooms that support us with pegagogy and practice.
As with classified or non-credentialed staff, it’s important to understand the expertise these folks bring to the table. Nevertheless, of the many expert teachers I spoke with, nearly all of them emphasize that a teacher should also consider the expertise they have, when collaborating with folks who are assisting your efforts in your classroom.
Support Staff, Credentialed
The term support staff is often misunderstood, and often over-used to describe the various folks teachers lean on for help, often daily. Credentialed and professional support staff at schools can include, and will not be limited to: special education coordinators, English Language Development coordinators, resource teachers, speech and language pathologists, and occupational therapists.
You can recognize good support staff because they will find and identify themselves to you first. They understand that although they have a caseload of students, they do not have a roster of them from 8-3:20 daily. In other words, they have time on the clock to plan, coordinate, write and communicate with others by design. They make a point to arrange to work with students on their case load, satisfying the needs of students within the scope of their assignment. They are mindful of the delicate schedule that teachers must keep and try their best to work alongside you as the classroom teacher. They will involve themselves in your classroom, email you, seek your input, and prepare materials and lessons to work with the students their job description calls for.
Great support staff will go further. These fine folks will coordinate with your needs beyond who is on their caseload, and work with students, whether assigned to them or not. They may pull out, or push-in, to work with many different students based on similar needs to those they must attend to.
For example, a good occupational therapist knows that a child in your class, on her caseload, has an IEP goal about holding their pencil properly during writing assignments. She creates lessons, works alongside this child, and coordinates with you so that she can meet this goal in a way you can’t. But a great occupational therapist recognizes that several other students in your class could benefit from this technique because of the pandemic effect. She will then coordinate with you and work with the group in the class as well. In this way, both her caseload and your caseload are supported.
Unfortunately, of the many teachers I speak with, support staff can sometimes feel less of a support, and more of a burden. In these cases, the support staff themselves seem to need the support of a highly organized teacher. One former District Teacher of the Year put it this way:
“At any one time, I could have three to six professionals in my class, all wielding clipboards. One wants me to be more differentiated in my instruction. Another seems to just observe my lessons, while a third will sometimes not come prepared to work with her group, which I’ve planned for. When any of them are sick, there is often not a substitute assigned to their absence and this can throw off my schedule. It can be stressful as heck.”
If you feel stressed at times working with support staff, you are not alone. One great teacher I know shared her system for handling such stress:
“I used to honestly freak out at all the people in my room. But then I realized that they aren’t there to evaluate me. They are here to help. So, I put a section on my white board that details things I need help with. If someone comes in, and it isn’t clear why, I simply ask, “Are you here to observe or teach?” If they are here to observe, fine. But if they aren’t, they are here to work with one or more students, and I’ll expect them, just as I am, working on something with one child or more.”
Support Staff, Classified
Prior to No Child Left Behind, a teacher was often assigned a “teacher aide” or “teacher assistant” for a portion of the day. Often, these folks were local members of the school community and needed only to pass a basic competencies exam. Other teacher aides worked specifically in special education classes with the same requirements. NCLB mandated that all classified people working with students on academic instruction must have a higher degree of certification. Thus, the para-educator was established in schools.
Fortunately for teachers, these para-educators now have a higher degree of either certification and/or have passed more exams that say they would. Unfortunately for teachers, these requirements have reduced the number of paraeducators available to teachers. These restrictions have also reduced the number of hired staff from local communities, especially communities of color.
Now, para-educators are assigned to classrooms, which can greatly benefit teachers needing an extra set of eyes, and another helper to tutor or push students. But just as likely, para-educators can be assigned to work with students, often a student with special needs, traveling with them from class to class. Some para-educators have specialized training, such as SETs who work typically in special education settings. SETs, for example, are trained to change diapers, even when a teacher themselves may not be.
It can be difficult to work alongside people not sure of the role they serve in your classroom/ However, great advice for teachers comes from Ms. Angie and Ms. Fernanda, two world-class para-educators here at my school:
“We sometimes get asked to switch here, or go there. Sometimes, our schedules are so nuts. We want teachers to know that we love kids too. So, when you have a minute, talk to us about what you are doing, why you are doing it. We’ll show up for you, and work in ways that help you as much as possible.”
I have found it also pays dividends to bring these amazing people, often who earn much less than us, tacos, sushi, coffee, pan dulce, or whatever you have spare change for from time to time. Little gestures will go a long way.
Administrative Staff
Once again, nobody knows administrative staff quite like Cathy Lopez, the best secretary in the world. Few people on the planet have worked with as many amazing administrators as she has.
“First of all, your administrators are your principal and vice principal, generally. Not all schools are big enough for both, so small schools may only have a principal. Large schools, however could have two or more vice principals. Some schools may host an intern principal, just like a guide teacher can host a student teacher.”
The school principal is both the instructional leader of the school, and the person who oversees it’s daily operation. It’s a monumental task, as they are responsible for budgets, as well as keeping budgetary decisions transparent. Principals decide on professional development for the teaching staff, based on their evaluations of what is needed and what is best for the teachers at a particular site. Principals are deeply involved in the SGT and the SSC, the two councils that seek input from school stakeholders on what is spent, how it’s spent and also what a site does instructionally on behalf of students. The principal is also responsible for evaluating teachers, based on union negotiated contracts. Generally, these evaluations are held over two years, and may be held, for some teachers, every five depending on the principal and staff.
The vice-principal works under and within the scope of the principal. Sometimes, the vice principal will be mentored by the principal. The vice principal may also evaluate teachers, albeit informally. They typically do a share of the principal’s core functions and can help with or lead professional development and with testing in spring.
“What is essential to know,” says Cathy, “about principals and vice principals is that they are under an exorbitant amount of pressure. What they really want to do is get into classrooms and be the instructional leader. What winds up happening most days however is that they are putting out fires from parents, to site building issues, to you name it. So any teacher that can show their principal they are helping to reduce the fires they must put out, is going to draw more respect almost naturally. My advice is to be a solid team player at a site. After you get to know the dynamic duo, figure out which one you need to speak with, regarding which issue. And don’t bring it up at all, if it’s something you can handle yourself. Don’t complain about who is getting what, and who isn’t unless its an equity issue for kids. Instead, let your principal know that you are going above and beyond to take some room off their plate. When a teacher needs something from a principal, they will be far more receptive to a person who has been working for the whole school, like a principal must, then for themselves.”
A Word on Coaching Staff
At most sites, an individual will be assigned as a Peer Coach, and often around a subject such as English Language Arts or Math, specifically. Newer teachers may be unaware that the peer coach, is a relatively new phenomenon in the teaching profession, but has gained acceptance and even popularity among school districts with the rise of coaching systems. Writers like Elena Aguilar, write specifically for coaches, and advise these individuals on their role, and how they can best serve their schools and the students within them. A great peer coach can make a teacher feel welcome, supported, and even championed and empowered. Sadly, a poor coach can have, and sometimes will have, an opposite effect on an otherwise overwhelmed new instructor. This can especially be true when school politics influences the coaching process. For example, when a peer coach is asked by administrators to ensure teachers focus on test-preparation, or to reduce subjects and content so as to better increase test scores, teachers can, and they will, push back.
What a teacher new to the profession needs to know is that coaching staff is, by definition, not evaluative. During NCLB, teacher unions across the US, carefully constructed wording so that these positions, mandated by NCLB funds, would not single out teachers who were not “playing along” with the intense focus to improve scores.
Like support staff, I have worked with many wonderful coaches in my year, both at my site, and in professional development off-site. Sadly, I have also been seated at tables listening to the very peer coaches assigned to help teachers, disparage the teachers on their “caseload” to the administrators who are evaluators by definition.
Should you feel championed and empowered by your coaching staff, then surely your instruction and pedagogy will benefit. However, should this not be the case, it is wise for a new teacher to know their rights. If at any point, you feel pressured to teach less of what your students need, and more of what the school arbitrarily requires, it is advisable to let your peer-coach know your rationale for what you are doing. If your coach values you, they will work with you to make the practice strong. If they do not, and what you are doing has merit with kids, it’s advisable to seek out your union site-rep.
