Teacher assistants to meet stricter standards

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, Jan. 20, 2003 | 11 a.m.

For more than a decade Phyllis Smith has worked in Clark County's most impoverished schools, helping teachers with young students in the pre-kindergarten programs.

Now a new federal law requiring teacher assistants at Title I schools to meet stricter education standards has sent Smith to a different kind of classroom -- one on the campus of the Community College of Southern Nevada.

"It's a little nerve-wracking because if I don't get the credits I'll lose my job," said Smith, who is attending college free of charge thanks to a new school district scholarship program. "But I'm looking at this as a chance to reach a goal I might not have gotten otherwise."

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law a year ago, requires states to set tougher standards for classroom assistants in Title I schools, demanding more educational experience than the high school diploma typically required.

There are about 400 teacher assistants working in Clark County's 274 schools, and some already meet the requirements of the new law, district officials said. The others will have until 2006 to earn an associate's degree, two years worth of college credits or a passing grade on a new proficiency test.

To help employees meet the new requirements, the Clark County School District has been offering tuition and textbook assistance to employees currently assigned to Title I schools. Since the program began in September, about 125 employees have enrolled in classes at the community college, Susan Wright, director of Title I services for the district, said.

"There are a lot of us out there who couldn't afford to go back to school if the district wasn't paying for it," Smith said. "It's a big burden to put on someone, telling them they have to go to college or they'll lose their jobs."

The district is also offering a proficiency exam for employees who prefer not to return to school. The exam tests basic knowledge of reading, mathematics, writing and teaching methods. The three-hour test was given for the first time last Saturday and 20 employees are awaiting their scores, Wright said.

"The test is a quick way of finding out where they stand," Wright said. "If they pass, they don't need to go back to school. If they don't pass, they know we have a program in place to help them."

Alasha Woods, principal of Fitzgerald Elementary School in North Las Vegas, said she relies heavily on teachers' assistants like Smith. While the new federal requirements will likely improve the quality of classroom instruction in the long run, in the short-term schools will struggle to replace teacher assistants who do not meet the standards, Woods said.

"It's going to be hard for a lot of these people to go back to school, especially when they'll have to do it part time because they'll need to keep working," Woods said. "But I know there will be very dedicated ones who will do everything they can to make it happen."