Substitute Paraeducator Handbook

Please contact the ESS West Office for all questions. Office hours are Monday through Friday 5:00am-5:00pm

Phone: 503-208-7454

Email: HRwest@ess.com

Media announcements may not be the most reliable source of school closure information.  For the most accurate and up-to-date school closure information, go to http://www.pps.net/. When there is a delay or closure, the District will update the website and the PPS Social Media Accounts, and the ESS office will send out alerts.

• Delays – Substitutes scheduled to work when there is a delay in opening school are required to be at work by the new start time (continue to monitor notifications for further updates)
• Closures – Substitutes are hourly employees that were scheduled to work at a school that closes for the day due to weather or unforeseen circumstances are not paid.

The Pioneer Program serves Portland’s special-education students, K-12, who are unable to be successful in less restrictive school placements. The program helps students with social/emotional and behavior needs, fragile mental health, developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder, and intellectual disabilities.

Intellectual Disability Definition

A student, whose intelligence test score is two or more deviations below the norm on a standardized individual intelligence test, existing with deficits in adaptive behavior and academic skills, manifested during the developmental period.

Hearing Impairment Definition

Hearing Impairment includes both “hard of hearing” and “deaf.” “Hard of Hearing” means a hearing condition which is functional with or without amplified sound and adversely affects the student’s educational performance. “Deaf” means hearing impairment which is so severe that the student’s hearing, with amplified sound, is nonfunctional for the purposes of educational performance.

Vision Impairment Definition:

“Vision Impairment” means a visual impairment which, even with correction, adversely affects a student’s educational performance. This term includes those students who are partially sighted or blind.

Communication Disorder Definition 

“Communication Disorder” means the impairment of speech articulation, voice, or fluency; the impairment of development of language comprehension and/or expression; or the impairment of the use of a spoken or other symbol system that adversely affects educational performance. The language impairment may be manifested by one or more of the following components of language: morphology, syntax, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics.

Emotional Disturbance Definition 

“Emotional disturbance” is a condition exhibiting one or more of the following over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance: (1) an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors, (2) an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and educators, (3) inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances, (4) a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression, or (5) a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. The term includes schizophrenia but does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

Orthopedic Impairment Definition 

“Orthopedic Impairment” involves a motor disability caused by an anomaly, disease, or impairment by other conditions (e.g., cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, or traumatic injury) where the child requires specialized and integrated services in order to benefit from an educational program.

Traumatic Brain Injury Definition 

“Traumatic brain injury” (TBI) means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. The term includes open or closed head injury resulting in impairments in one or more areas, including cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not include brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

Other Health Impairment Definition 

“Other Health Impairment” means having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, due to chronic or acute health problems. Such health problems could include, but are not limited to: a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, diabetes, Tourette’s syndrome, or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. 

Specific Learning Disability Definition

A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; of mental retardation; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Autism Spectrum Disorder Definition 

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an umbrella category over the following areas of disability: Asperger’s Syndrome, Autism, PDD-NOS and Rhett’s Syndrome. All are developmental disabilities typically affecting the processing, integrating, and organizing of information that significantly impacts communication, social interaction, functional skills and educational performance. Essential features, generally appearing during the first three years of life, will include exhibited impairments in: 

• Communication 

• Social Interaction 

• Patterns of behaviors, interests, and/or activities that are restricted, repetitive, or stereotypic 

• Unusual response to sensory experiences 

Under each classification is a description of the required things a Paraeducator must be able to do in order to successfully substitute for that classification. In addition, the following is a brief description of what the classroom may be like.

Every Classification Requires a Para to:

Communication Behavior classroom       

Social Emotional – Behavior 

Behavior HS

Intensive Skills Classroom   

Medically Fragile – Nursing 

Recognizing appropriate boundaries is an integral part of your assignment.  Staff are not to share personal information with students, which would include: staff’s life experience with drugs, alcohol, and/or any other behaviors that would be deemed inappropriate for students.  Additionally, staff may not sell students items, nor borrow items from students.  Staff is also discouraged from giving out personal contact information to students.  Remember, you are the professional and must model appropriate behavior for our students.

Some of our students come from histories of physical/sexual abuse and can be quite sensitive to even the slightest touch.  Hugs, although harmless, can be a trigger for some and are strongly discouraged. Clearly age and developmental level of student will play a vital role in determining appropriate response. Acceptable forms of touching include: high fives, handshakes, and fist bumps.   

Important Things to Remember While in Class:

Substitute Paraeducators have a responsibility to conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times when carrying out their duties.

1. Confidentiality – Substitute Paraeducators must treat student information confidentially.  Student behavior, performance, and achievement levels should not be the subject of general conversation and should not be discussed outside of the school setting.  When working with special needs students, substitutes should exercise an even greater degree of caution.

2. Substitute/Student Relationship – Substitute Paraeducators should exercise extreme caution and good judgment in verbal and physical relationships with students.  Substitutes should establish a position of authority with the students; they may “be friendly” without “befriending” the students.   Substitute Paraeducators should not search students’ personal belongings. Berating students, calling students derogatory names, and using insults or other threatening verbal attacks is not acceptable practice.

3. Firm, Fair, and Consistent – Most literature indicates that to be successful in their treatment of students, the substitute needs to treat students in a firm, fair, and consistent manner. Fairness and consistency are key issues with students.  The substitute must be impartial when dealing with student behavior or performance.

4. Discipline – The discipline policy and procedures for the school district and each school should be followed.  If the regular classroom educator does not leave a copy of the discipline policy and/or procedures, check with the office for a copy or find a copy of the School Climate Handbook on the school’s webpage.  

5. Remain alert and engaged while with students.

6. Leaving the Campus – The care and supervision of the students assigned to the substitute should be of paramount importance.  At no time during the day other than duty free lunch should the substitute leave campus unless authorized to do so.  Substitutes should check out through the school office before leaving at the end of the school day.

7. At the End of the Day – After students have been dismissed for the day or placed safely on the correct school bus, the room should be checked to ensure that it is restored to the way the substitute found it.  Books, supplies, and instructional materials should be returned, desks placed in their original positions, etc.  

8. Transporting Students - Reasonable care requires that field trips be planned and conducted in a manner so that students will not be exposed to situations inherently dangerous and that activities will be avoided in which it is reasonably foreseeable that an accident or injury may occur.  The School/Program Administrator’s approval is required.