Empowering Educational Assistants in Rural Communities through Targeted Professional Development

In rural school districts, EAs are vital to supporting students with diverse learning needs, especially in high-poverty areas struggling with generational socioeconomic factors. This session will share a case study of targeted PD for EAs and explore how supports are reducing teaching load, increasing EA efficacy, and addressing systemic challenges. Participants will be able to: 1. Describe the role of educational assistants in supporting diverse learners in rural communities. 2. Identify systemic barriers that impact EA effectiveness and explore strategies to address them through PD and structural support. 3. Explore and identify programming designed to support EAs in their expanding role. 4. Offer tools and strategies for implementing PD for EAs and locating funding to support PD initiatives at the school, district, and ESD levels. 5. Work through a district-readiness tool with the presenters that is a structured self-assessment designed to help school and district leaders evaluate their preparedness for implementing sustainable, high-impact, professional development for educational assistants. 6. Work in teams to identify areas of strength and need before launching into or scaling PD initiatives. 7. Assess their district or school’s current readiness to implement sustainable professional development. 8. Identify strengths and gaps across six key domains: structure, leadership, funding, collaboration, implementation, and sustainability. 9. Prioritize next steps and build an action plan for launching or refining EA support structures aligned to their community needs.