How to Collaborate with the Education Support Professionals in Your School
On a typical school day, a student may greet their bus driver on their morning commute and stop by the front desk to hand in some paperwork to their school receptionist. They make a visit to the nurse, high-five the custodian in the hallway, and spend some one-on-one reading time with a teacher’s aide. At lunch, they chat about today’s meal with their favorite cafeteria aide and talk about the weather with their school’s resource officer. On their way back to the bus, they wave goodbye to their school’s crossing guard.
Schools are made up of so much more than classroom teachers and principals. Working behind the scenes, in classrooms, in halls, on the roads, and in cafeterias, education support professionals help make learning possible.
Education support professional (ESP) is an umbrella term to capture many roles, including cafeteria workers, custodians, bus drivers, and security, in addition to paraprofessionals or paraeducators, also called teacher’s aides. Many other school employees can also be considered education support professionals — every school has unique needs and important staff members qualified to meet those needs.
As districts face staff shortages following the COVID-19 pandemic, education support professionals are often being asked to wear multiple hats to keep schools afloat, and paraprofessionals are working harder than ever to support classroom teachers.
As an educator, you likely interact with education support professionals every day. From a quick exchange with the custodian to an IEP meeting with a paraprofessional, the work you do with the ESPs in your school impacts students in both minor and major ways, contributing to your school’s overall culture and influencing individual students’ learning paths.
Here are a few steps you can take to form supportive, collaborative relationships with education support professionals that positively impact students:
Communicate Often with Paraprofessionals
Paraprofessionals, or teacher aides, are an integral part of the classroom, especially as schools face teacher shortages. Of all ESPs, paraprofessionals are most directly involved in instruction and learning. If a paraprofessional spends time in your classroom, you already know that communication is vital. To improve your partnership, try getting to know them better as an individual. A simple personal connection can go a long way toward building trust between co-workers!
It’s critical for classroom teachers and paraprofessionals to communicate well and often about student needs and progress. Practice good communication strategies with your partner paraprofessionals, including establishing reliable, consistent methods of communication, such as regular face-to-face meetings. Be transparent about your own preferred methods of communication and accommodate your paraprofessional’s needs as best as you can.
For more tips, read:
Foster a Culture of Respect
Staff dynamics are a key factor in a school’s overall culture. Students learn through observation — they see the interactions their teachers and principals have with custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and other support professionals. Model respect for students by treating all support professionals as valued members of your school community.
Every support professional brings something unique to your school— knowledge, skills, or even a positive attitude! Respect every professional’s expertise in their role.
Make School Events Inclusive
Community events, family nights, open houses, and other gatherings or celebrations should be inclusive events. Education support professionals can have an important role to play in these events and should always be invited to school-wide celebrations. Even if you aren’t organizing the event, you can be an advocate for school staff that may otherwise not be included. In any case, ensuring all staff members are invited and valued is also a great way to model inclusivity and kindness for students.
Share Your Knowledge
Education support professionals who hold an instructional role will make important observations about students’ needs. When appropriate, be sure to exchange detailed information with paraprofessionals about student progress so that you can collaborate to determine the best path for that student’s support. IEPs provide a structure for this exchange, but it’s important to be as communicative as possible on an ongoing basis to make agile adjustments to instruction.
Sharing knowledge about students and day-to-day classroom occurrences will occur naturally, but it’s also important to share your knowledge about pedagogy and practice, from experience and professional learning. Every educator is a life-long learner, and a culture of knowledge sharing can create an effective and creative staff.
Collaborate with Students’ Interests in Mind
Students have touchpoints with school staff in a variety of roles every day. Every interaction students have with education support professionals influences their experience at school, and in turn, ESPs get to know students as individuals.
The relationships students have with all professionals in the school can illuminate and fulfill students’ needs. While always maintaining appropriate boundaries of information sharing and respecting students’ privacy, consider how you can collaborate with every individual that interacts with your students at school to shape and improve their learning journeys.
Celebrate Each Other
Finally, celebrate the education support professionals in your school! Acknowledging and valuing the work they do every day can make an important difference in overall school culture. Try this: At the end of the year, print these thank you cards, have your students write a note, and hand them out to the professionals that make your school a great place to work.
To learn more about Education Support Professionals and their role in U.S. K-12 schools, visit:
For more resources on school culture and school staff collaboration, see:
