Each day in our local classrooms, hundreds of paraeducators work alongside teachers to support classroom learning and provide critical support to students and families. Paraeducators are found in a range of educational settings including general education classrooms, special education, lunchrooms, playgrounds, school buses, vocational work sites, computer labs, and school media centers.

In June, both the Marion Independent and Linn-Mar Community School Districts were amongst the first recipients of the state’s Teacher and Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship grants. They were two of 19 districts awarded a total of $45.6 million to be used to train and educate current high school students and paraeducators for the next step in their teaching career. Participants in the program get paid while they learn in the evenings and work in classrooms during the day.

Marion Independent School District is leading a consortium of rural districts and was awarded a combined $2.9M. Sixty-one current paraeducators will pursue the opportunity. Course work starts this week and participants are able to use up to $17,000 per year for two years as they pursue a teaching degree.

“We are incredibly excited to see a real interest in this opportunity and impact the need for teachers within our district,” said Janelle Brouwer, Marion Independent School District Superintendent.

Linn-Mar was awarded $3.5M and is partnering with Mount Mercy University (MMU) to provide training opportunities for current employees with an Associates Degree (or equivalent) to earn their Bachelor’s Degree in Education while learning and working in the classroom. For those students and employees who do not have an Associates Degree, they are partnering with Kirkwood Community College for online classes. They have the opportunity to get either a Para Certification or an Associates Degree. Orientation for this new program kicked off last Thursday evening with MMU at Linn-Mar High School. More than forty employees are engaged in various aspects of the training. MMU offers courses on the Linn-Mar campus each Tuesday and Thursday evening.

Read the Iowa News Now feature article for more about the Linn-Mar and Mount Mercy program.

Funding is made available through the American Rescue Plan Act.

For more information about the Teacher and Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship, click here.

Read the full press release.