Paraprofessionals who serve as teaching assistants significantly contribute to student achievement and improved student behavior, particularly in high-needs schools, according to a new study by the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research.

Researchers Charles T. Clotfelter and Helen Ladd from Duke University and Steven Hemelt from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed school finance data and student test scores for 1,163 elementary schools and 439 middle schools in North Carolina from 2006 to 2013. They found that students in schools with more teaching assistants had both higher overall test scores and fewer school absences than students in schools with fewer assistants.

An additional assistant played a key role in helping students who had historically scored just below the pass mark on standardized reading and math tests to now demonstrate proficiency. At schools with an additional teaching assistant, the percentage of proficient students rose by one-half to a full percentage point on average, with larger gains occurring at high-needs schools. In general, a teaching assistant’s impact on student achievement was somewhat greater in reading than in math.

In addition, the researchers found that increasing the student-to-paraprofessional ratio resulted in a noticeable reduction in student absences and lateness in elementary school students.

Approximately half of the schools studied were high-poverty schools in which 68 percent of students on average qualified for free or reduced-price lunch.