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Special Education Teachers, Middle School

Education, Training, and Library · SOC 25-2057

13.4% AI Exposure — Medium
$66,810
Median Annual Salary
Average
O*NET Outlook
Proj. Annual Openings
95,200
Employment (OEWS 2025)
+1.7%/yr
Empl. growth (2019–2025)
87/100
AI Resiliency Score

AI exposure from the Anthropic Economic Index (2025); salary from BLS; skills from O*NET. See /sources.

Decision card

Career Evidence Passport

SOC 25-2057 evidence across exposure, wages, projections, postings, certified LCAs, skills, and transitions.

Proxy / seed data labeledDescriptive-only
SOC exposure
13.4%
Medium · Anthropic AEI
Automation friction
41/100
Moderate friction; broad SOC seed ORS job-requirements coverage.
Wages
$66,810
H-1B offered wage $62,000; LCAs are filings.
Projected openings
BLS EP 2024–2034; employment change -1.9%.
Observed/proxy demand
199
FY2025 certified LCAs; 1,916 postings in 2025.

Skill evidence

SpeakingInstructingActive ListeningActive LearningLearning Strategies
  • H-1B values are certified Labor Condition Applications, not visa approvals.
  • Job postings are seed-static / seed-derived; treat as provider-ready proxy coverage until observed provider data is wired in.
  • Transition matches are directional skill-overlap context, not placement guarantees.
  • This release is a FutureGrid broad-SOC seed derived from public BLS ORS requirement concepts and categories, not direct occupation-level ORS survey estimates. It describes job requirements, not worker ability, AI capability, or displacement probability. Automation friction is a FutureGrid derived score and should be read alongside exposure, demand, wage, and projection signals.

Best transitions from here

Explore all pathways

Lower AI-exposure roles that reuse your skills, ranked by a transition score (skills that transfer, safety gain, pay and retraining effort).

AI Exposure Analysis

AI Exposure13.4%
AI Resiliency87/100
Exposure BandMedium
Sector Avg. Exposure17.9%

Across AI measures

Multiple exposure lenses for this occupation.

46.1%
Consensus
Actual adoption · Anthropic13.4%
AI capability · OpenAI30.5%
AI ability · AIOE94.5%
Automation baseline (2013) · Frey & Osborne1.6%

AI could do ~30.5% of this role but only ~13.4% is currently done with AI — a large capability-vs-adoption gap.

Top Skills

1.Speaking
2.Instructing
3.Active Listening
4.Active Learning
5.Learning Strategies

H-1B Visa Sponsorship Demand

View full H-1B trends →

Certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications naming this occupation, FY2016–FY2025. A descriptive high-skill labor-demand signal — employer filings, not visa approvals or individual outcomes. Note: one LCA can cover multiple worker positions.

1,020
Decade Total (Certified LCAs)
199
FY2025 Volume
0% of all H-1B filings in FY2025
$62,000
Median Offered Wage (Latest Year)
#171 of 776
Rank by Total Volume
H-1B filing volume, FY2016–FY2025

O*NET occupation profile

What this work involves

Teach academic, social, and life skills to middle 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.

Common titles: Exceptional Children Teacher (EC Teacher), Exceptional Student Education Teacher (ESE Teacher), Inclusion Teacher, Intervention Specialist, Learning Disabilities Teacher (LD Teacher), Learning Support Teacher

Representative Tasks

  • Develop or write Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for students.
  • Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
  • Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions.
  • Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
  • Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, and food preparation.

Detailed Work Activities

  • Design psychological or educational treatment procedures or programs.
  • Develop educational programs.
  • Develop strategies or programs for students with special needs.
  • Establish rules or policies governing student behavior.
  • Set up classroom materials or equipment.

Tools & Technologies

Microsoft Outlook · hotMicrosoft PowerPoint · hotCommon CurriculumEasyCBMEmail softwareFlipgridPadletPear DeckSchoologyScreen magnification software

Employment Projections & AI Exposure

15
Occupations Shown
19.4%
Avg AI Exposure
8
Bright Outlook
Horizontal bar chart showing occupations with the highest projected annual openings. Each bar length represents annual projected openings. Color uses a gradient from violet (lower) to cyan (higher). Summary statistics are shown above the chart.

Employment & Wage Trend

BLS OEWS, 2019–2025


Occupation Employment & Wage TrendMulti-year BLS OEWS history for SOC 25-2057: 2019 — employment: 85,840, median wage: $61,440; 2020 — employment: 80,110, median wage: $61,820; 2021 — employment: 79,070, median wage: $61,820; 2022 — employment: 82,970, median wage: $62,990; 2023 — employment: 88,850, median wage: $66,600; 2025 — employment: 95,200, median wage: $66,810.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). See /sources.

Sector Comparison

MetricThis CareerSector Average
AI Exposure13.4%17.9%
OutlookAverage47% Bright
Median Salary$66,810N/A
AI Resiliency87/100N/A