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The other was a close friend, Stefanie Robinson, a paraprofessional who worked with students with severe disabilities, including those requiring help with feeding and diapering.

Ramming, director of Advancing Modoc, a nonprofit that works to increase educational opportunities in the region, said plenty of locals, including paraprofessionals already working in classrooms, would love to become credentialed teachers.

Indeed, they may not be seen by a doctor at all but by a paraprofessional — a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant, for instance — who works under the doctor’s license.

One of the reasons for the increase: More paraprofessionals — also known as instructional assistants — are being hired to assist special education students and early English learners.

I was 22 and working as a paraprofessional at an elementary school in Boise, Idaho, earning $9 an hour.