A year ago, Valeria Ibarra-Santoyo and Rocenda Reyes were beginning their senior year at Nacogdoches High School.
Now, a little more than three months after graduating from NHS, both are paraprofessionals at NISD’s Fredonia Early Childhood Center after taking advantage of a Career & Technical Education program at Nacogdoches High that lets them earn their Educational Aide I certification.
Santoyo and Reyes are assigned to classrooms at the newly renovated campus. And Trystan Ard – another recent NHS graduate who took similar courses before graduating in 2022 – works with students in Fredonia’s physical education classes.
Among the three teaching aides, there’s a common refrain: “I love working with kids.”
Trystan Ard is an aide in physical education classes.
In Texas public schools, educational aides and paraprofessionals often take on instructional responsibilities and tutoring in addition to helping with classroom management and lesson preparation.
According to Texas Education Agency, the Educational Aide I certification process measures the following domains or competencies: planning, managing, and providing education and training services and related learning support services; exploring and understanding needed preparation for Education and Training careers; and participating in a field-based internship that provides background knowledge of child and adolescent development as well as principles of effective teaching and training practices.
Education certification program growing at NHS
“This is a program that, as it gains traction and becomes more popular, has the potential for NISD to grow its own teachers, putting them onto a path to college and, hopefully, bringing them back after graduation to teach here at home,” said NISD Superintendent Dr. Gabriel Trujillo.
While obtaining the aide certification, students at NHS spend class time working at the Pre-K center. Last year, the district’s Pre-K program was at Nettie Marshall while Fredonia underwent a renovation that physically transformed the former elementary school to serve NISD’s youngest students. At the beginning of the new school year there are more than 300 students at the Fredonia campus.
Rocenda Reyes works with a student.
“I am pleased that three of my former students have successfully utilized the skills they acquired in my classes, leading to gainful employment at NISD,” said Carla Coffee, the teacher in educational and training courses in the CTE department at NHS. “The numbers are growing, which makes me happy. The students are the ones who make the program successful… without them there would be no program.”
Coffee said the first year the certification class had two students. Last year there were six, and she expects 15 to graduate next May with the teaching aide certification in hand.
“The classes I teach are Principles of Education and Training, Human Growth and Development, and Instructional Practices,” Coffee said. “The final class is Instructional Practices, which is a field-based internship where the class goes to NISD elementary schools and works under the direction and supervision of a teacher.”
Paraprofessionals spent time in Pre-K classroom while still at NHS
As part of that program, Reyes and Santoyo spent time last year at the Pre-K campus – then located at Nettie Marshall – where Charles Zemanek is principal.
“I taught two of the three students [in middle school],” Zemanek said. “They came to our program from Ms. Coffee’s class at NHS and had a really good experience.
“They already knew what our program was like and understood what we’re trying to accomplish. Having them come here already with experience was important.”
Valeria Ibarra-Santoyo in a Fredonia classroom.
The three students are already enrolled in courses at Angelina College, and Zemanek occasionally has to make room in their schedule to join in a course via online conference.
“We’re in the middle of a teacher shortage, but the greatest pathway to getting our teachers is through our paraprofessionals,” Zemanek said. “And even if I have to give them breaks during the day to tend to their college classes, it will pay off for us in the long run. We’re making an investment in people early on.”
Zemanek said he intentionally assigned the young paras with longtime, experienced teachers on the Fredonia campus. “I told them I’ve got super-experienced people, so everything these teachers do, learn from them. After 30 or 40 years in the profession, these teachers know something.”
Ard, who wants to coach baseball in the future and be an athletic director, formerly attended Nettie Marshall years ago as a student. “The coach there was one of my biggest heroes,” said Ard. “And, last year, I had the keys to the gym.”
Santoyo is also a former Nettie Marshall student who later transferred to Fredonia Elementary. “It’s so much different now than when I was that age,” Santoyo said. “And these kids are just heartwarming.” Working in education has long been Reyes’ objective. “Even when I was a young student, I wanted to be a teacher,” she said.