The Parapro Assessment was created and is administered by the Educational Testing Service. It was designed to measure the basic skills in reading, writing and math of a paraprofessional. In many states, it is one of the requirements that need to be met before a person is hired to work in a school as an assistant, such as a teacher's aide. The test lasts for about two and one-half hours and consists of 90 multiple-choice questions. About two-thirds of the questions cover basic skills and one-third cover the application of these skills in the classroom. All of the questions are in English. Accommodations are made if you are disabled or if English is not your first language. One accommodation is allowing more time so you can complete the exam.
Each question on the test that is answered correctly scores one point. If you skip a question or get it wrong, there is no penalty. Your raw score is converted to a scaled score. Since the questions are multiple choice, the test is scored by machine. If you take the test online, you are able to see your score immediately and can print out an unofficial copy of it. You should receive your official report within about two weeks. If you take the test on paper, it takes about four weeks for you to get the results. In some states, the report is mailed directly to the department that handles teacher credentials.
The report you receive after taking the exam contains your scores in each content area. This way, you know your weaknesses if you have to retake the test. Overall, the scores range from 420 to 480. The ETS has not determined what constitutes a passing score. That determination is up to the individual states. Most states put the passing score at between 450 and 460.
Your ability to comprehend what you read is one skill that is tested. You may be asked about the author's purpose or the main idea of a reading selection. You have to understand basic grammar, like nouns and verbs, and punctuation, like commas and apostrophes. For math, you need an understanding of algebra and geometry. Basic skills may include estimating, rounding, reading graphs and certain types of measurement. You may have to identify sequences and work with percents, ratios, fractions and decimals. You may need to know about exponents and be able to work with them. Of course, the most basic math skills are in computation and include addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.