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Courses help SRPs meet new
requirements January 14, 2004 Just five months ago Jill Frankoski was so overwhelmed about this school year, she broke down. A teacher aide for three years at the East Greenbush schools in Rensselaer County, she had just found out she had to get college credits to keep her job under new state certification requirements - even though she'd passed the Assessment of Teaching Assistant Skills test over the summer. "It was so scary to think about college, I started crying to my husband the day before school started," Frankoski said. Fears were eased when she found out her local union, the East Greenbush School-Related Personnel, had worked out an arrangement for members to take college courses through their statewide union's Education and Learning Trust. Her union had even negotiated a $150 district payment toward "Introduction to Exceptionalities," taught by Sandi Rosen, a member of the Albany Public School Teachers Association. "I feel like it was a blessing because the course was so good and I learned so much that is helping me in my job," in an inclusion first-grade classroom, Frankoski said. She has already signed up for another course this month. Frankoski is among the tens of thousands in instructional support services facing new certification rules. New York State United Teachers, which has arranged for more professional development courses for SRP members in recent years, last year developed undergrad courses with several community colleges around the state to help current and future aides and assistants meet state certification requirements. Courses also can be applied toward a two-year associate's degree for those interested in becoming teachers. Lynn Ronan wished she could have taken the undergrad course two years ago. "It would have been so helpful because we learned so many strategies to help with behavior programs," said Ronan, also a member of the East Greenbush SRPs. NYSUT leaders also eased the burden after months of negotiations with the State Education Department yielded the agreement that teaching assistants who are state-certified and have tenure automatically meet new federal requirements for Title I programs. This affected 30,000 people statewide - outside of New York City - who otherwise would have been required to complete two years of college, have an associate's degree, or pass a written state or local assessment to keep their jobs. The United Federation of Teachers, NYSUT's affiliate for paraprofessionals in New York City, is now negotiating terms of evaluations to meet federal standards for its members. Besides undergrad courses, NYSUT's Education and Learning Trust offers a six-hour test-prep program and materials for candidates applying for a state teaching assistant certificate. After the workshop, participants reported extremely high pass rates on the test, which is offered five times a year. For information on registration and test locations, go to the National Evaluation Service Web site at www.nysatas.nesinc.com. Help is also available from the American Federation of Teachers, NYSUT's national affiliate, the lead organization in developing "Skills Standards for Frontline Workers in Education and Training." Local unions and school districts can use these standards for designing certification and professional development programs, writing job descriptions or developing tests. The document is at www.etvp.org. For information about courses through the union's Education and Learning Trust, call (800) 528-6208 and press 4 for the SRP Professional Development Program. - Betsy Sandberg |
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