A Tiered Approach for Training Paraeducators to Use Evidence-Based Practices for Students With Significant Disabilities

Paraeducators play an important role in the education of students with significant disabilities. They can best contribute to improving student outcomes when they are skilled in using evidence-based practices. Tiered training is a practical and promising solution for how teachers can train teams of paraeducators to use evidence-based practices. Like a Response to Intervention (RTI) model for students, tiered staff training involves providing initial training for groups of paraeducators, monitoring their performance, and then providing follow-up coaching to only the paraeducators who need extra support. In this article, each step of tiered training is described with examples. This step-by-step guide is informed by a series of research studies in which tiered training was tested with more than 60 paraeducators who serve students with significant disabilities in public schools.