Special Education Teachers, Elementary School

Overview

Special Education Teachers, Elementary School has a national median salary of $65,120 per year, with -0.4% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

Teach academic, social, and life skills to elementary school students with learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Includes teachers who specialize and work with students who are blind or have visual impairments; students who are deaf or have hearing impairments; and students with intellectual disabilities.

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Instruct students with disabilities in academic subjects, using a variety of techniques, such as phonetics, multisensory learning, or repetition to reinforce learning and meet students' varying needs.
• Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities.
• Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.
• Modify the general elementary education curriculum for students with disabilities.
• Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations.

Work Activities

• Getting Information
• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
• Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
• Analyzing Data or Information
• Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
• Processing Information
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
• Developing Objectives and Strategies

Detailed Work Activities

• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
• Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
• Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
• Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.
• Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished a master's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Master's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a bachelor's degree.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Special Education Teachers, Elementary School:

Video Resources