News Summary

The PAR²A Center has a new training project. Please click on the links below for more information and how to contact us.

• Project P² ECE

Update on the PAR²A Center’s current projects…

New Grant! Recently, the PAR²A Center was awarded a grant from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), U. S. Department of Education. The grant project is titled, Preparing Paraprofessionals for Early Childhood Education, (P²ECE). Project P²ECE is a partnership of the Paraprofessional Resource and Research (PAR²A) Center at the University of Colorado Denver with the University of Northern Colorado and the Early Childhood Education State-wide Community College Faculty coalition. The project addresses the critical need for well prepared paraprofessionals and teaching assistants who are equipped with competencies and skills to provide instructional support to each and every child in a variety of preschool settings that includes local school districts, Head Start and community based preschool (3-5 years) programs.

The proposed project will review and redesign courses of the existing Early Childhood Education certificates as well as Associates of Arts degree programs at Colorado community colleges by incorporating standards-based and evidenced-based special education content and practices. The project also puts systems in place for the delivery of the redesigned coursework as well as its articulation agreements for the transfer of enhanced curriculum into four year special education degree programs.

OSEP welcomed all new grantees in a conference call and presented an overview of the grant regulations including: grant management, priority requirements, resources and cohort coordination. OSEP recommended the following resources for guidance to all grantees:

The Iris Center – Special Education Resources for Inclusion, Research-to-Practice Instructional Strategies
Connect: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge – http://community.fpg.unc.edu/connect
TA&D and Personnel Centers – http://www.tadnet.org
IDEA Resources – http://idea.ed.gov/
Parent Training and Information Centers – http://www.taalliance.org/
Materials related to IDEA – http://www.nichcy.org
Technical assistance for evaluation – https://www.cippsite.org

• Project PreP (Preparation of Paraeducators) is funded by the U. S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education through the Paraprofessional Pre-service Program Improvement for personnel development to improve services for children with disabilities. This project addresses the preparation and training of paraeducators to serve students with special needs in grades K-12. Project PreP develops collaboration among community colleges in the Colorado Community College system, based on commonly recognized training needs and issues for paraeducators. Project PreP will redesign the current certificate and associates degrees programs offered at Colorado Community Colleges by using the Paraprofessional Standards as established by the Council on Exceptional Children to incorporate evidenced based and competency-based practices and content in special education into each course, and include a practicum in a program that serves children with disabilities grades K-12.

• Hybrid CO-TOP*EIS Project (Hybrid Comprehensive Training of Paraprofessionals in Early Intervention Services), funded by the U.S. Department of Education, is a grant focused on special education personnel development to improve services and results for children with disabilities. The expert panel is currently aligning the Developmental Intervention Assistant curriculum with the newly developed Developmental Intervention Assistant professional development standards.

For more information on all current projects of our center please go to Our Projects.

List of the PAR²A Center’s recent trainings, presentations and other happenings

Dr. Chopra was recently invited to join the JFK Partners (Anschutz Medical Campus) as a member of their Direct Support Personnel Preparation steering committee. The goal of the committee is to increase the availability of qualified personnel in direct care, case management and specialized services for all persons, both children and adults, with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The committee is scheduled to meet once a month. The PAR²A Center will continue to participate in the monthly meetings to represent the unique needs and issues of paraprofessionals who serve special populations in early intervention, pre-schools and K-12 settings.

Recently, Ritu Chopra was invited to join the Pyramid Plus State Policy Team’s Professional Development Work Group. The Pyramid Plus State Policy Team‘s goal is to promote a collaborative professional development system that fosters and sustains the state-wide, high-fidelity use of the Pyramid Model, SpecialQuest Approach, and other related evidenced-based practices integrated with relevant Colorado efforts to ensure that all early childhood settings support the social and emotional development and inclusion of all children birth through age five. The Professional Development work group of this team is responsible for ensuring that the above stated evidence-based practices are embedded in all early childhood and related interdisciplinary higher education and professional development initiatives. This work is related to two of the courses/academies of the CO-TOP*EIS project of the PAR²A Center. The team meets the second Wednesday of each month. Ritu Chopra and Geri DiPalma will continue to attend these meetings in the future.

Information Sessions – The PAR²A Center is conducting information sessions to prospective participants for the Center’s Transition to Teaching grant projects: TOP SET*ALP and Teacher PreP. These grants make it possible for paraeducators, recent college graduates, mid-career changers and current teachers who do not have a teaching license, to become licensed teachers in either special education, math, science or linguistically diverse education through an alternative licensure program. For more information on these projects or to apply click on the following links TOP-SET*ALP or Teacher PreP. You can also email Mike Gallegos for more information or to apply to the grant projects.

January 11, 2012

Location: Developmental Pathways, Englewood, Colorado

Ritu Chopra, Geraldine DiPalma and Willie Hepworth presented an overview of the innovative practices and the final evaluation results of the ARRA-funded Comprehensive Training Opportunities for Paraprofessionals in Early Intervention (CO-TOP*EIS) project.

January 12, 2012

Location: Office of Special Education Programs, Washington, D.C.

The webinar with OSEP project coordinators was to announce and share the new Paraprofessional Google site that is up and running. The project coordinators gave a quick orientation and discussed how to best utilize this site. The PAR²A Center’s grants that will benefit from this site are Hybrid CO-TOP*EIS, Project Prep and P² ECE.

January 24, 2012

Location: University of Colorado Denver, Lawrence Street Center

Work has begun to adapt the CO-TOP*EIS DI Assistant academies to an online format. Administrators and key players will meet to work on Objective 3: to modify the revised DI Assistants certificate curriculum for delivery in a hybrid format, which is a combination of classroom and online instruction in order to enhance the accessibility and provide statewide availability.

February 15-17, 2012

Location: Hilton Anatole Hotel, Dallas, Texas

The National Association for Bilingual Education is the only national professional organization devoted to representing Bilingual Learners and Bilingual Education professionals.

March 1-3, 2012

Location: San Antonio, Texas at the Hilton Palacio Del Rio

On March 1, Ritu Chopra and Geraldine DiPalma are presenting “Paraeducator-Teacher Teams: Working Together in Harmony.” Willie and Veronica Hepworth will be presenting a session entitled, “Work-Life Balance for Educators: Achievable or the Impossible Dream.” Also on March 1, Nancy French, founder of the PAR²A Center, is presenting a session called, “Helping Kids Read Fluently.” On March 2, Ritu Chopra will be presenting “One-on-One Assignment of Paraeducators: Reality and Issues.”

March 4-6, 2012

Location: Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, Orlando, Florida

By honoring the excellent work being done by institutions today to create programs that use innovative means to help students realize their goals, EPI hopes to further its mission of creating opportunities for minority students at post secondary institutions. Successful student retention programs recognize that cognitive, social and institutional factors all play a role in student retention and persistence.

March 26-27, 2012

Location: Hawai‘i Convention Center, Honolulu, Hawaii

This event is hosted by the Center on Disability Studies (CDS), at the University of Hawaii. The conference aims to inspire, educate and illuminate – with over 18 topic areas, 200 presentations and several institutes, to ensure all human beings can live to their complete potential.

April 11-14, 2012

Location: Colorado Convention Center, Denver, Colorado

May 22-25, 2012

Location: Jupiters Gold Coast Hotel, Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia

The conference focuses specifically on “inclusive learning technologies” – technologies designed to advance independent achievement for people with disabilities and/or students with learning difficulties. It includes sessions looking at these technologies in the following three interest streams.
- Struggling Students
- People with Complex Communication Needs
- People with Disabilities

June 24-27, 2012

Location: Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center, Kissimmee, Florida

The conference will showcase the nations best practices and next practices for improving student achievement and growth.