ETS and Washington’s Professional Educator Standards Board have launched a statewide partnership integrating ETS Praxis’ ParaPathways solution into the state’s paraeducator workforce pathway. The initiative combines assessment preparation, credentialing and skills development while using assessment vouchers to reduce financial barriers for candidates entering paraeducator roles.

Washington is turning to a more integrated approach to building its paraeducator workforce, combining preparation, assessment and employment pathways through a new partnership between the state’s Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) and ETS’s Praxis program.

The statewide agreement integrates ParaPathways, an ETS Praxis solution designed to help candidates prepare for and enter paraeducator roles. The programme brings preparation resources together with the assessment requirements used by Washington for paraeducator employment.

The partnership comes as school systems continue to face challenges recruiting and retaining education workers. Paraeducators provide classroom and student-support services across K-12 schools, making their availability an important component of school workforce planning.

Rather than treating certification preparation as a separate activity from employment readiness, the ParaPathways model is organised around three stages: preparation, licensure and skill development.

For candidates, the pathway includes interactive practice tests, diagnostic score reports and preparation e-books. Those resources are designed to identify knowledge gaps before candidates take the required assessment.

The programme also includes the ParaPathways assessment, which can be used to meet Washington’s minimum employment requirements. ETS says vouchers will be available to candidates through the partnership, reducing the direct cost of taking the assessment.

A second component, ParaPathways Bridge, provides an alternative passing route intended to give qualifying candidates a faster path into employment.

The broader objective is to create a more connected progression from preparation to assessment and then entry into the education workforce.

That model has implications beyond paraeducator testing. Employers across sectors are increasingly looking for ways to reduce friction between learning, credentialing and employment, particularly in roles where formal qualifications can become barriers to entry.

For school districts, the potential benefit is a more standardised candidate pathway. Washington’s requirements include a high school diploma or equivalent and one of several qualifying routes, including a passing score on a board-approved assessment such as the ETS Praxis ParaPro assessment.

By aligning preparation resources with those requirements, the programme gives candidates a clearer path to understanding what is expected before entering the workforce.

It also creates a potential workforce-development pipeline for districts. Paraeducator positions can provide locally rooted education workers with experience inside schools, while some may eventually progress into other education roles.

The workforce-development aspect is particularly relevant as education systems look for ways to expand their talent pools without relying solely on conventional recruitment channels.

The National Center for Education Statistics has documented persistent staffing challenges across U.S. public schools, with teacher and non-teacher vacancies creating pressure on districts to recruit and retain qualified personnel. The U.S. Department of Education has also highlighted the importance of education support professionals, including paraprofessionals, to school operations. (ed.gov)

A structured pathway can address one part of that challenge by making entry requirements more transparent and reducing the cost of assessment.

For HR and workforce teams, the approach illustrates a broader shift toward skills-based workforce development. Instead of relying exclusively on prior experience, employers and public institutions can combine assessments, preparation resources and competency requirements to create alternative routes into roles.

That approach can be particularly useful for candidates with limited formal experience but relevant capabilities developed through other settings.

However, an assessment-based pathway does not by itself solve broader workforce issues such as compensation, career progression, working conditions or retention. Its primary role is to address the transition from candidate to qualified employee.

The Washington partnership also provides a potential template for other states considering how to expand education-support pipelines. ETS and PESB describe the model as a scalable approach that connects state employment requirements with preparation and assessment resources.

The partnership’s statewide nature is significant. Rather than leaving individual districts to develop separate preparation and assessment processes, the programme creates a common pathway across Washington’s paraeducator workforce.

For candidates, that could mean clearer expectations and fewer financial obstacles. For districts, it could provide a more consistent mechanism for identifying candidates who have completed the required preparation and assessment steps.

The initiative also demonstrates how credentialing technology can become part of a broader workforce strategy. In this case, the technology is not simply delivering a test; it connects learning resources, assessment, eligibility and progression into a single candidate journey.

As employers and public-sector organisations continue looking for ways to widen talent pipelines, similar models may become more common across occupations where skills can be demonstrated through structured preparation and assessment.

For Washington’s schools, the immediate focus is paraeducator recruitment. For the wider HR technology market, the partnership highlights a larger opportunity: making the path from learning to demonstrated skills to employment more direct.

Market Landscape

Workforce shortages are encouraging employers and public institutions to reconsider how people enter skilled occupations. Education is one example, with school systems exploring alternative pathways, preparation programmes and credentialing models to expand candidate pools.

The ParaPathways partnership combines three elements often handled separately: learning preparation, assessment and workforce entry. That structure resembles the broader movement toward skills-based hiring and skills-based workforce development, where demonstrated competencies can complement traditional experience requirements.

For education employers, reducing assessment costs and clarifying qualification pathways can address barriers at the recruitment stage. Longer-term workforce outcomes, however, will also depend on career development, compensation, working conditions and retention.

The partnership could nevertheless provide a useful model for other public-sector workforce programmes where candidates need specific competencies but face financial or procedural barriers to demonstrating them.

Top Insights

• ETS and Washington PESB are integrating ParaPathways into a statewide pathway for paraeducator preparation, assessment and workforce entry.
• Assessment vouchers are intended to reduce financial barriers for candidates seeking to meet Washington’s paraeducator employment requirements.
• ParaPathways combines practice tests, diagnostic reports, preparation resources, assessment and an alternative Bridge pathway.
• Washington’s model connects state employment requirements with structured preparation rather than treating assessment as an isolated credentialing step.
• The approach illustrates how skills-based workforce development can connect learning, competency demonstration and employment.

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