Specifications include, but are not limited to: 1. The Awardee must provide teacher participants (“participants”) with a tuition-free education resulting in a post-secondary degree and certification to teach in Delaware, no later than the 2027-2028 school year. All certification fields offered as part of the proposed partnership must be mutually agreed upon by the Awardee and the proposed Local Education Authority (“LEA”) partner(s). The Awardee must already be approved to offer the certification fields they have proposed in their application(s). 2. Grant funding must entirely cover tuition, textbooks, and fees for all selected participants. No cost for programming shall be passed on to participants. 3. The Awardee must agree to cover the cost of one issuance of each required certification assessment for all selected participants who complete the GYO Delaware program. Unless covered by the Awardee’s approved grant budget, additional issuance of a required certification exam will be paid for by the LEA or participant. 4. The Awardee must work with the partnering LEA to place each participant in a paid paraprofessional position for the duration of their participation in the program. In the second year of a program, participants may continue to serve in a full-time paraprofessional capacity, or they may serve in a full-time paraprofessional-resident capacity. LEAs and the Awardee should coordinate to determine which second-year (or third-year) capacity best suits the program and participant. a. For programs in which the participant remains a full-time paraprofessional in all years, the participant should be compensated according to the LEA’s paraprofessional wage schedule, with an incremental wage increase with each year of the program. The IHE Awardee and the LEA partner(s) should coordinate to ensure that the participants gradually assume more responsibility as they progress through the program. b. For programs in which the participant transitions from a full-time paraprofessional in year 1 to a full-time paraprofessional-resident role in year 2 (or year 3), the participant should assume residency-like responsibilities for portions of the school day (for example, the participant may serve as a paraprofessional for the first half of the day, then functionally serve as a teacher resident in the second half of the day). The IHE Awardee and LEA partner(s) should jointly determine the most suitable division of responsibilities for participants, based on participant competencies and related course sequence. LEAs may use state residency stipends to supplement typical paraprofessional wages. At minimum, participants who become paraprofessional-residents in year 2 (or year 3) of the program should not experience an overall wage decrease compared to their first year in the program. c. Each participant, regardless of capacity, must be assigned to a high-quality cooperating or mentor teacher (also known as a resident advisor). 5. Regardless of whether the participant serves as a full-time paraprofessional or a full-time paraprofessional-resident in year 2 (or year 3), the Awardee and LEA partner(s) must allow for each participant’s clinical experience during the program to satisfy the IHE Awardee’s clinical internship/student teaching requirements for educator candidates. Once selected and enrolled in the Awardee’s GYO Delaware program, participants must be employed by the LEA as a paid, full-time paraprofessional for the entire duration of the program.
