IU1 Guidelines for Annual Paraprofessional 20 Hours of Training

It is the responsibility of each instructional paraprofessional or personal care assistant to acquire 20 hours of training each school year. These 20 hours must be related to his/her position, and must be completed in order for the paraprofessional to remain highly qualified to continue in his/her current job assignment. The Intermediate Unit offers a number of training opportunities at their August inservice and throughout the school year. For example, Intermediate Unit 1 paraprofessionals or personal care assistants who register and attend all six days of August inservice have the opportunity to acquire these 20 hours of mandatory training. Each employee will be required to register, as usual, through Solutionware to document the 20 hours of training.

There will be times when an employee is unable to attend these Intermediate Unit 1 job related inservice training programs. In these instances, the Intermediate Unit Administration will require the employee to submit to the Program Supervisor, in advance, the name, description/course syllabus, and provider of the course or program he/she wants to attend. Providers such as the Pennsylvania Department of Education, PaTTAN, Allegheny Intermediate Unit, California University of PA, Community Colleges, or other entities offer a variety of onsite and/or online courses. When the employee submits proof (i.e. a certificate, transcript, etc.) that he/she has successfully completed the course or workshop related to their job responsibilities, the employee will record it on the Professional Training Log. No later than June 1st of the current school year, the paraprofessional will submit the Paraprofessional Training Log to his/her Program Supervisor to review and approve/disapprove.

Newly hired instructional paraprofessionals and personal care assistants are required, by their collective bargaining agreement, to complete 15 additional days of instructional training over the course of three calendar years to remain qualified to perform their job. These employees will have the benefit of scheduling their training courses each year to simultaneously meet both their contractual obligation and their 20 hour training obligation under Chapter 14. Each employee will be required to register, as usual, through Solutionware to document the 20 hours of training. The Administration realizes that many of these employees are not hired at the beginning of the school year. Therefore, the Intermediate Unit will only require these employee to acquire a prorated number of the annual 20 hour obligation according to the schedule below:

In summary, Intermediate Unit 1 embraces the Department of Education's requirements to ensure that all persons who work with young children/students with special needs have the necessary training to competently perform their job responsibilities. IU1 instructional paraprofessional and personal care assistants are encouraged to contact their program supervisors for any questions that they may have regarding their requirement for annual training. Remember, it is the responsibility of the paraprofessional to acquire 20 hours of related annual training to remain qualified to perform their job as a paraprofessional instructional aide. Additionally, non-IU1 sponsored training related to a paraprofessional's job must be reported immediately on the Professional Training Log for it to be considered as credit toward the annual 20 hours of training requirement.

Rules and Regulations
Title 22 — Education
State Board of Education
[22 PA. CODE CH. 14]
Special Education Services and Programs
[38 Pa.B. 3575]

[Saturday, June 28, 2008]

§ 14.105. Personnel.

1. Paraprofessionals.
   1. An instructional paraprofessional is a school employee who works under the direction of a certificated staff member to support and assist in providing instructional programs and services to children with disabilities or eligible young children. The support and assistance includes one-on-one or group review of material taught by certificated staff, classroom management and implementation of positive behavior support plans. Services may be provided in a special education class, regular education class or other instructional setting as provided in the student's IEP. Instructional paraprofessionals shall meet one of the following qualifications effective July 1, 2010:
      1. Have completed at least 2 years of postsecondary study.
      2. Possess an associate degree or higher.
      3. Meet a rigorous standard of quality as demonstrated through a State or local assessment.
   2. Nothing in subsection (a) should be construed to supersede the terms of a collective bargaining agreement in effect on July 1, 2008.
   3. Instructional paraprofessionals, each school year, shall provide evidence of 20 hours of staff development activities related to their assignment.
   4. A personal care assistant provides one-to-one support and assistance to a student, including support and assistance in the use of medical equipment (for example, augmentative communication devices; activities of daily living; and monitoring health and behavior). A personal care assistant may provide support to more than one student, but not at the same time. Personal care assistants shall provide evidence of 20 hours of staff development activities related to their assignment each school year. The 20 hours of training may include training required by the school-based access program.