The information provided below may assist with the recent changes in the Aide/ECCAT requirements.   

If you had a permanent authorization by 6/30/23 you will be able to remain in a PK or K position.  If you were not permanent at that time and/or if you wish to serve in the expanded grade levels, you will need the additional training.    

In response to House Bill 3035 the additional qualifications were specifically developed to ensure that Early Childhood Classroom Assistant Teachers (ECCATs), Paraprofessionals, Aides, or Interventionists “have the knowledge and skill to teach and/or support all students to read and perform mathematics at grade level.”  These skills build upon the ECCAT and Paraprofessional framework already in place with the addition of PK-3 Science of Reading and PK-3 Numeracy.   

West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) policies and West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) procedures are based on West Virginia State Code and, as such, from this point forward all ECCATs who are not permanent as of 7/1/23 will be required to take free courses within three years of their original start date in order to obtain a permanent authorization which will allow them to serve as an ECCAT in a PK-3 classroom.   

The next registration for ECCAT courses begins 8/1/23 and modules will be available on 9/6/23.  When registration opens you can access the catalog of courses on the WVDE website https://wvde.catalog.instructure.com/browse/pk3paraprofessionaleccataide.  All courses are offered free of charge.  After 9/6/23 courses will be self-paced and available indefinitely.  You may take one course at a time but may take as many as you would like in a year.  Please keep in mind that you MUST take at least one course per year in order to renew your authorization and submit a new application each year until you are permanent for employment as an ECCAT.  There will be no extensions granted.  At this time PK-3 Science of Reading (Classroom Management) and PK-3 Numeracy (Classroom Expectations/Managing Behavior) are required regardless of what pathway you are taking and are considered to be pre-requisites.  You will need to complete those two courses before taking additional courses regardless of what classes you may have taken previously.  There is no requirement to be in the classroom in order to take these courses.    

At this time the WVDE does not have any preapproved college courses to replace either of the new courses, but you are welcome to submit a copy of your course description and syllabus for review to see if it will meet the standards (emarcum@k12.wv.us and cc to chaymaker@k12.wv.us).    

PLEASE USE THE LINK BELOW FOR A TUTORIAL ON ENROLLMENT FOR PK-3 PARAPROFESSIONAL, ECCAT AND AIDE COURSES  

https://scribehow.com/shared/Enroll_for_PK-3_Paraprofessional_ECCAT_and_Aide_Courses__f3qs7d4TTmeEGuGs9wdfAA