EDITOR'S NOTE: First of three stories on paraprofessional students
The daughter of high school dropouts, Brandy Moorehead is a single mother of four children, living paycheck to paycheck.
Not a typical teacher bio.
But two things changed Moorehead’s life trajectory: She discovered how rewarding it was to help children with exceptionalities as a paraprofessional classroom aide, and it led to hearing about Grand Canyon University’s online education, which helps paraprofessionals become teachers.
Now Moorehead is finishing requirements toward a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and is only a student teaching stint away from being the first in her family to get a college degree.
“I’m excited. I’m ready,” said Moorehead of Dalton, Georgia. “I’m going to be an actual teacher.”
She is one of thousands of paraprofessionals, or teacher’s aides, pursuing bachelor’s and master’s degrees online from GCU, helping fill teacher shortages and improving the financial lives of aides who often are like Moorehead, living paycheck to paycheck.
“Some of them have really unique life experiences, and earning a traditional four-year degree was perhaps a bit of a challenge,” said College of Education Dean Dr. Meredith Critchfield. “Many are working adults who came to our undergraduate and graduate programs later in life. They are not necessarily individuals who had the world easily handed to them. They’ve had to go through a lot of trials and tribulations to get this degree.”
Moorehead, 38, suffered through the death of her father when she was 15 and her mother’s disability. Later, the father of two of her children was deported to Mexico, she said, and she receives no child support.
She worked in child care and drove a bus.
But then she entered the classroom as a paraprofessional to assist teachers with children who had special needs, the last couple of years at Christian Heritage School in Dalton.
“Many students do not have a father in their lives, a mother who is here and there ... or they are in foster care,” she said. “I have students say that they would rather be at school than at home.”
Moorehead began as an aide with younger students, teaching them to read, which led to taking an emphasis in reading in her degree. Since working with older students through the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support program at Heritage, she has discovered how vital the work is.
“It’s helping students make positive changes in their lives and educating and reassuring students that they are important because many do not have a good home life,” she said.
Moorehead said paraprofessionals are ideal teacher candidates because “they have their foot in the door, and they know what to expect and how to talk to kids and reach kids. Sometimes they have more one-on-one with students than the teachers.”
Critchfield agrees. GCU recognized the value of paraprofessionals in the field, how they were a growing part of the online enrollment and the skills they already bring to their study with classroom experience.
“They understand the needs of the classroom, they care deeply about the success of kids, and care about the families and communities they are serving,” she said. “They just need a leg up, that little bit of extra support to take them to the next step of becoming a licensed teacher in their state.”
To address the teacher shortage in America, GCU has created the National Center for Teacher Preparation to make higher education more accessible and help working paraprofessionals transition into a bachelor’s or master’s degree. The initial teacher licensure scholarship is available to help make it affordable.
When GCU launched its National Center for Teacher Preparation earlier this year, it cemented that support with scholarships for paraprofessionals, Critchfield said, “because we understand that becoming a teacher is an act of service, it’s an act of love, and it’s an act of sacrifice, and that includes financial sacrifice.”
In addition, GCU places paraprofessionals in cohorts so they can learn from others in similar positions and offers professional learning conferences through K12 Educational Development’s Canyon Professional Development.
“What’s really exciting for me is that there is not one story to tell about paraprofessionals, there are literally thousands of stories to tell,” Critchfield said. “How rewarding for them to be a teacher of record, and they can share the story of their triumphs and challenges with their students and inspire those students to go on and do great things in the world.”
One Texas woman approached Critchfield at a conference and told her with teary eyes, “I have prayed for this. I have wanted to become a teacher. I just needed someone to help me get there, and I feel like GCU is helping me get there.”
Moorehead said she is almost there.
GCU’s flexible classes helped her navigate around her job while raising four children, ages 8 to 18.
And she’s already using what she learned. “I’m finding different activities to work with students who need motivation and find ways to help them,” she said.
“I’m making an impact in kids. Sometimes they don’t have anybody to go to, so I’m making a bond with the child, improving their reading and social skills – improving themselves.”
Grand Canyon University senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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