Paraprofessional Influence on Student Achievement and Attitudes and Paraprofessional Performance Outside the Classroom in District Decentralized ESEA Title I and New York State Urban Education Projects in the New York City Schools.

This is the final report of a study that examined paraprofessional influence on student achievement and attitudes and on paraprofessional performance outside the classroom. The paraprofessionals studied were those employed in the New York City public schools and supported by district decentralized ESEA Title I and New York Urban Education Quality Incentive Program Funds. Close to four-fifths of these paraprofessionals serve as classroom paraprofessionals. Previous evaluation studies left unanswered the question of what connection, if any, exists between measured student achievement in cognitive and affective areas and the presence or absence of paraprofessional services. Pre-test and post-test pupil achievement results and post-test scores from two attitude inventories served as the study's dependent variables. The 63 experimental classrooms and 35 control classrooms selected at random for the study included 2,821 third grade students. Nonclassroom paraprofessionals, such as family assistants and family workers, perform as paraprofessional social workers. Because this part of the study began so late in the school year, it was agreed that the investigation would be limited to an examination of their background and the work they perform as paraprofessionals, rather than attempting to discover the effect they are having. (Author/JM)