Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

School districts reap reward from PCC initiative

Photos and story by James Hill

by Susan HerefordFor Adriana Roberts, 22, the path to education is now clear. The Jesuit High School graduate watched all her friends go off to college, instead choosing to marry and in short order had a family with two little boys. Thanks to a partnership between Portland Community College and the school district where she has held a job as an instructional assistant for the past several years, she will be one of the first employees to take advantage of an opportunity to go to college and earn an associate’s degree. PCC recently received a five-year, $1,435,600 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund the program Raising the Educational Achievement of Paraprofessionals (REAP). REAP will help fill the shortages of qualified paraprofessionals, also called instructional assistants, to serve K-12 English-language learners.The program will enroll approximately 200 students during the life of the grant – 40 each year – anticipating that 120 instructional assistants in the Beaverton, Tigard-Tualatin, Hillsboro and Forest Grove school districts will complete their associate’s degrees. The project will run until September of 2007 and pays for tuition, books, and fees, as well as some additional support services for those who need it. School districts are currently selecting applicants.Roberts, who works at Charles F. Tigard Elementary School, headlines the Tigard-Tualatin School District’s list of students who will be able to go to college while working. She realizes it will not be easy to juggle the demands of family, work and school, but does not want to lose the opportunity to earn her degree. "This is just exciting,"said Roberts, who is bilingual. "I took advantage of money the school had earlier to send me back to PCC to brush up on my Spanish because I work with so many Hispanic students. Now I can return and earn a degree."Kate Dins, dean of PCC’s Cascade Campus Business and Government division, will administer the REAP program. "Without this grant, many instructional assistants would not have the resources to pursue an associate’s degree at PCC. We are hoping that some of the instructional assistants served through this grant will decide to continue their education at a four-year institution and become teachers in one of the four school districts,"she said. REAP addresses the districts’ needs to meet new education standards under the federally mandated No Child Left Behind Act. It stipulates that by 2006, current paraprofessionals must complete two years of college, earn an associate’s degree, or demonstrate competency in an exam that tests academic subject areas and education principles to remain employed. REAP will not only aid bilingual assistants, but will also help improve the PCC Education department’s ability to address issues related to bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) students.Roberts works daily, on-on-one and in small groups with 30 to 40 students, helping kindergarten through fifth graders better their English language skills. The skill level varies widely, she said, from "learning sounds, and ?What letter is this?’ to helping them with reports on spices, explorers, studying the stars. Plus, I do a lot of translating for students and parents."REAP is based at the Cascade Campus and is aligned with the teacher-licensure programs at Portland State University and Lewis and Clark College to encourage instructional assistants to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as certification as a teacher of English as a second language. Barbara Torrey, who heads up English language learning programs for the Tigard-Tualatin district, likes the convenience that will be part of the program set-up. She said the district will be able to use the curriculum PCC provides and stage many of the classes at their sites. (For the general education requirements, students will attend classes on PCC campuses or online.)"They pulled it all together for us, set it up and organized the program,"she said. "We had a very positive experience working with them."