The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) established higher educational standards for paraprofessionals.
According to NCLB guidelines, a paraprofessional working at a Title I school must have an associate's degree or 48 to 60 credit hours of college coursework.
Paraprofessional training is available through many 2-year colleges and online educational providers (see Resources below).
A paraprofessional can also meet NCLB standards upon successful completion of the American College Testing WorkKeys or the Educational Testing Service ParaPro Assessment (see Resources below).
Several states are working to establish their own guidelines for paraprofessional training. These include Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.