A study examined the role of paraeducators as liaisons to the local community. Phase 1 of the study involved interviews with four paraeducators and three teachers, each of whom was part of a rural teacher/paraeducator team that used the paraeducator's background in the community to enhance school activities. Phase 2 involved five group sessions with 135 paraeducators, teachers, administrators, and others from rural Montana schools and with 70 paraeducators, teachers, and administrators from Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded schools in four states. Findings indicate that paraeducators interacted with parents, suggested school activities based on their knowledge of the community, assisted with arranging school activities in the community, had other roles in the community that enhanced the school-community relationship, brought local culture to school activities, and modeled community attributes. Their acquaintance with local families contributed to school activities. Obstacles to utilizing paraeducators as community links included concerns regarding confidentiality, insufficient paraeducator training, uncertain job descriptions and parameters of paraeducator duties, insufficient paraeducator knowledge of students or school procedures due to inability to attend meetings, and working for schools interfering with a paraeducator's image in the community. These findings were used to develop a series of videos to be used in training teacher/paraeducator teams. (TD)