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Date: 11/20/2025

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School

Teach academic, social, and life skills to secondary 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.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
    • Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
    • Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.
    • Administer standardized ability and achievement tests, and interpret results to determine students' strengths and needs.
    • Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
    • Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
    • Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
    • Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
    • Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
    • Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, and food preparation.
    • Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities.
    • Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
    • Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions.
    • Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
    • Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
    • Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies.
    • Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
    • Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
    • Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
    • Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes.
    • Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.
    • Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies.
    • Prepare for assigned classes, and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
    • Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
    • Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of secondary school programs.
    • Sponsor extracurricular activities, such as clubs, student organizations, and academic contests.
    • Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress.
    • Prepare for assigned classes, and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
    • Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
    • Monitor teachers and teacher assistants to ensure that they adhere to inclusive special education program requirements.
    • Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
    • Perform administrative duties, such as school library assistance, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading.
    • Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development.
    • Provide additional instruction in vocational areas.
    • Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress.
    • Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
    • Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement.
    • Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
    • Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required.
    • Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and to determine priorities for their children and their resource needs.
    • Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
    • Guide and counsel students with adjustments, academic problems, or special academic interests.
    • Visit schools to tutor students with sensory impairments and to consult with teachers regarding students' special needs.
    • Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
    • Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress.
    • Meet with parents and guardians to provide guidance in using community resources and to teach skills for dealing with students' impairments.
    • Provide interpretation and transcription of regular classroom materials through Braille and sign language.
    • Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
    • Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory.
    • Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.

    Skills

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    N/A
    Workplace Documents
    N/A
    Graphic Literacy
    N/A

    Abilities

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    Knowledge

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    Career Video

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    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 74420/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 9,430
    • Yearly Projected Openings 670

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Concern for Others
    • Cooperation
    • Dependability
    • Integrity
    • Adaptability/Flexibility
    • Stress Tolerance

    Tools

    • Adaptive communication switches for the physically challenged
    • Assistive listening devices
    • Binocular light compound microscopes
    • Braille devices for the physically challenged
    • Cassette players or recorders
    • Childrens science kits
    • Compasses
    • Computer mouse
    • Desktop calculator
    • Desktop computers
    • Digital camcorders or video cameras
    • Document camera
    • Enteral feeding administration sets
    • Game pads or joy sticks
    • Gas burners
    • Goggles
    • Hand held camcorders or video cameras
    • Keyboards
    • Laboratory beakers
    • Laboratory hotplates
    • Laboratory scalpels
    • Laminators
    • Laser printers
    • Letter or symbol boards for the physically challenged
    • Liquid crystal display projector
    • Medical gas cylinders or related devices
    • Medical or surgical suction tubings
    • Microphones
    • Mobile medical services first aid kits
    • Multimedia projectors
    • Notebook computers
    • Page turners for the physically challenged
    • Personal computers
    • Photocopiers
    • Protective gloves
    • Scanners
    • Tablet computers
    • Telecommunication devices TDD or teletypewriters TTY for the physically challenged
    • Televisions
    • Touch screen monitors
    • Video cassette players or recorders
    • Visual presenters
    • Voice synthesizers for the physically challenged
    • Wheelchairs
    • Writing aids for the physically challenged

    Technology

    • Computer based training software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Desktop publishing software
    • Device drivers or system software
    • Document management software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Graphics or photo imaging software
    • Internet browser software
    • Office suite software
    • Presentation software
    • Spell checkers
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Video creation and editing software
    • Voice recognition software
    • Web page creation and editing software
    • Word processing software

    Tags

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