What Does a Paraprofessional Do? Duties in a Special Education Classroom

A paraprofessional supports students under the direction of a certified teacher: reinforcing skills taught by the teacher, carrying out accommodations and behavior plans, collecting data, supervising, and helping with personal care when a student’s plan calls for it. Paras (also called paraeducators, aides, or teaching assistants) make inclusion possible, but many start the job with little training and no clear description of what they should and shouldn’t do. This guide covers both sides: what the role includes, where its limits are, a daily checklist, and how teachers can set paras up to succeed.

The core of the role

The key phrase in most job descriptions is “under the direction of a certified teacher.” The teacher plans instruction, designs supports, and is responsible for student progress. The para helps carry that plan out and gives the teacher eyes and hands in more places at once.

What paraprofessionals do

What paraprofessionals should not do

Rules vary by district and state, but these limits are common:

• Plan instruction or introduce new skills without a teacher’s plan.
• Make decisions about IEP goals, services, placement or accommodations. Those are team decisions.
• Assign grades or evaluate student work independently.
• Be the only adult responsible for teaching a student, including when the teacher is absent and no certified substitute is assigned.
• Share confidential information about students with other parents, in the community, or on social media.
• Do the work for the student. Writing answers or completing tasks may feel helpful, but it hides what the student actually needs.
• Use physical restraint except under the school’s emergency procedures and with the required training.

Families sometimes ask paras about a student’s progress at pickup. A friendly, consistent answer helps: “That’s a great question for [teacher’s name]. I’ll let them know you asked.”

A daily paraprofessional checklist

Teachers can hand this out on day one and adapt it to their room.

Before students arrive

• Check the daily schedule and any changes (assemblies, specials, substitutes).
• Read the plan for your assigned students: accommodations, behavior plan summary, data to collect.
• Prepare materials for small groups or stations.

During instruction

• Sit or stand where you can support without hovering.
• Use the prompts the teacher has chosen, starting with the least support (a gesture or visual before telling the answer).
• Provide accommodations as written.
• Praise specific behaviors (“You started right away”).

Behavior

• Follow the behavior plan exactly as written.
• Use few words during an incident; stay calm.
• Record what happened right away on the data sheet.

Transitions, lunch and recess

• Give warnings before transitions if they’re part of a student’s plan.
• Supervise actively: scan, move around, step in early.

End of day

• Turn in data sheets.
• Share two or three observations with the teacher (what worked, what didn’t).
• Note any questions for the next planning check-in.

Building independence, not dependence

One of the hardest parts of the job is knowing when to step back. A para who sits beside a student all day can unintentionally make the student rely on adult help, and it can keep peers from interacting with the student.

Ways to fade support:

• Use the prompt hierarchy: visual, then gesture, then verbal, then model, then physical, and move back toward less support as soon as possible.
• Step away on purpose. Check in, then move to help another student, then come back.
• Teach the student to ask for help instead of waiting for an adult to notice.
• Encourage peer support through partner work.

How teachers can set paras up for success

Paras are most effective when the teacher treats them as part of the team.

• Give a written role description for each part of the day: who the para supports, what they do, what data they collect.
• Share the right information. Paras need accommodations and behavior plan summaries for the students they support. They usually don’t need the whole IEP file.
• Model first. Show how you want a strategy done before asking a para to do it.
• Schedule a short weekly check-in, even 10 minutes, to review data and adjust.
• Give feedback privately and specifically, the same way you would for any colleague.
• Say thank you. Paras often have the hardest moments of the day and the least recognition.

Supporting students with behavior plans

Many para assignments involve a student with a behavior intervention plan. Before the para works with that student, walk through the plan together: the behavior, early warning signs, the replacement behavior, and exactly how to respond. Our behavior intervention plan example shows what a complete plan looks like, and FBA vs BIP explains where it comes from.

Confidentiality

Paras see and hear a lot of private information. Under FERPA and school policy, student information is shared only with staff who need it for their work. Keep notes in school systems, use initials on informal notes, and don’t discuss students where others can hear.

For more on the IEP cycle, behavior support and data collection, see our special education teacher resources.