## What you need to know about the ParaPro Assessment

The ParaPro Assessment is one of the Praxis® tests for educational personnel. It measures the basic skills deemed necessary to function as a paraprofessional or teacher assistant/aide in a school setting. Beginning with the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 and continuing with the Every Student Succeeds Act that replaced it, it is required that paraprofessionals have one of these three qualifications:

• An associate of arts degree
• Two (2) years of college
• A passing score on the district’s choice of assessment that proves the candidate has the knowledge and skills to assist in the teaching of reading, writing, and mathematics

The ParaPro Assessment is the test chosen by some school districts to satisfy the third option above. Producers of this test say that the questions are approximately leveled for a student who has completed 2 years of post-high school study (college level). The reading level of the questions is no higher than the level a person would need to work with K-12 students.

This test is administered on computer with other options available for people who qualify for certain accommodations. The testing format is basically selected-response (mostly multiple-choice) and you may not use a calculator. Some questions may vary from the typical multiple-choice format where you select one answer from a list of four possible choices. Directions for each type of answer will be clearly given, so read carefully. Here are the other question types you may see:

• Multiple-choice in which you choose more than one answer
• Questions requiring numeric answers to be typed into a box
• Questions requiring the use of the mouse to click on parts of a graphic stimulus
• Questions requiring clicking on sentences in a reading passage
• Questions requiring you to drag answers from one spot to another and drop them there
• Questions requiring you to choose the answer from a drop-down menu and click on it

The exam has three parts: Reading, Writing, and Mathematics. Each part contains 30 questions and is one-third of the examination. The questions in each section primarily address skills and knowledge in that particular area of study. About one-third of the questions in each section ask you to apply those skills and that knowledge to a classroom situation. There may be a few questions in any section that do not count toward your score, but you won’t know which ones these are. There is no penalty for wrong answers, so it is to your advantage to select an answer for every question.

### When is it available?

The ParaPro Assessment is given at Prometric® Testing Centers and other locations, including some universities, colleges, and school district facilities. You can find out more about testing centers and dates by accessing this website and by contacting your local education agency.

### Tips & Tricks

• You may be more or less familiar with computer-delivered tests, but learning more about the format of the ParaPro Assessment is a good idea. You can view a tutorial about this here.

• If you haven’t practiced the skills tested in a while or you’d like to have more support, creating a study group is a great idea. If several of your colleagues or friends are also preparing for the test, arrange to meet in a group regularly as you prepare. You can share study tips and information while providing encouragement for each other.

• Don’t be discouraged by unfamiliar words in questions or answers on this test. Use the words around them (context clues) to help you figure out what they mean. Scan all of the answers. You may find that the unknown word is not even in the correct answer. Just use what you know to figure it out.

• The questions on this test are not designed to be tricky. They are straightforward and just require you to make your best judgment, so don’t make the test harder by overthinking a question.

### Time Allowed

The testing session for the ParaPro Assessment lasts for 2.5 hours, during which you will be presented with 90 questions. You will need to work rather quickly to answer all of the questions within this time limit, but it’s also important to proceed carefully and avoid careless errors.

Practice using our expertly crafted questions!