How To Become A Para Professional: What It Is and Career Path

What is a para professional and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a para professional. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.52 an hour? That's $28,118 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 55,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePara ProfessionalUS Average

Salary

2.2

Avg. Salary $28,118

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.5

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.44%

Asian 8.72%

Black or African American 9.53%

Hispanic or Latino 16.76%

Unknown 4.69%

White 58.86%

Gender

female 75.34%

male 24.66%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

3.7

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a para professional

Explore para professional education requirements

Most common para professional degrees

Bachelor's

50.9 %

Associate

22.7 %

High School Diploma

12.7 %

Start to develop specific para professional skills

Skills	Percentages
Para-Professional	19.22%
Mathematics	10.24%
IEP	6.76%
Kindergarten	5.63%
CPR	5.13%

Gain additional para professional certifications

Para professional certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific para professional certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for para professionals include First Aid, CPR and AED Instructor and Child Development Associate (CDA).

More About Certifications

Research para professional duties and responsibilities

Train and manage kindergarten classroom and achieve significant improvements in their productivity.
Perform responsible human support and paraprofessional work assisting classroom teacher or other professionals, achieve institution objectives.
Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) design to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
Obtain CPI certification through the school district.

Prepare your para professional resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your para professional resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a para professional resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable para professional resume templates

Build a professional para professional resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your para professional resume.