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Making college courses accessible and affordable to working professionals will be critical if the goal of increasing the number of highly qualified paraprofessionals having completed at least two years of college is going to be met. Because many paraprofessionals will be returning to school for the first time in years, bridge programs that integrate basic-skills development with content appropriate to paraprofessionals will be particularly important. Making financial aid available to part-time students, whether from NCLB Title I funds or from state need-based financial aid pools, will be an additional critical factor in ensuring broad participation.

States have a number of policy options to help increase the number of students who successfully complete the associate degree and those who go on to achieve a baccalaureate degree. Many states hold both the sending college and the receiving university accountable for the success of students who transfer between the two- and four-year systems, and link performance to budget decisions. Strong advising programs, joint admissions, a fully transferable general-education core curriculum, and common course numbering are all policy mechanisms that support the seamless movement of students between systems.

Here are some key policy questions for state policymakers to consider:

• Have school district personnel and community college and university faculty collaborated to identify the knowledge, skills, course content and competencies to be mastered in credit courses offered to paraprofessionals pursuing an associate degree?

• Are college courses available at times and locations easily accessible to working paraprofessionals who desire to pursue the degree option? If offering the degree locally is not feasible, are distance-education options available?

• Is need-based financial aid available to working paraprofessionals who enroll in college on a part-time basis?

• Are there mechanisms in place that allow experienced paraprofessionals to demonstrate competencies and earn experiential credit as part of a formal degree program?

• Are there strong, statewide 2+2 articulation agreements in place that allow for the seamless transfer (without loss of credit) of AA or AS degrees earned at community colleges to baccalaureate-level teacher education programs at state universities, for paraprofessionals who decide to pursue teacher certification? Are there mechanisms that articulate credits earned in less-than-two-year certificate programs, AAS degree or certificate programs into baccalaureate teacher education programs?