# Will high school special education teachers be replaced by AI? Updated October 2026 High school special education teachers score 42 of 100 for AI exposure. The largest share of their task time, 52%, is work AI speeds up while they stay in charge. AI can take over 11% outright, and 37% stays with people. - **11%** AI can do it - **52%** AI helps - **37%** Needs a person Moderate exposure Higher than 56% of the 923 occupations we scored. ## Task by task We graded 40 tasks, listed here from most to least exposed. AI can do 4 of them today, speeds up 20 and leaves 16 to people. | Task | AI exposure | | --- | --- | | Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools. Drafting course objectives and outlines is routine document work. | 75% AI can do it | | Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations. Record keeping and report drafting are routine documentation work. | 70% AI can do it | | Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress. AI can generate tests and grade routine assignments, teacher reviews. | 70% AI can do it | | Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies. AI can adapt curriculum text and materials, teacher reviews output. | 62% AI can do it | | Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students. AI drafts clear lesson objectives, teacher reviews and communicates them. | 58% AI helps | ## How high school special education teachers compare All occupations (923) Educational instruction and library (62) **High school special education teachers score 42**, marked by the dark line. Each dot is a score, darker where more occupations share it. The short marks show the averages, 37 for all occupations and 45 for educational instruction and library. ## Pay and outlook in the US Median pay $74,260 a year, May 2025 People employed 163,930 in the US, May 2025 Projected change in jobs \-0.2% from 2024 to 2034 ## Skills to build - Write individual education plans and IEP goals in Microsoft Word - Track student progress data in Microsoft Excel - Adapt curriculum materials and review AI drafts before use - Run in-person behavior support and de-escalation in classrooms - Teach daily living and vocational skills hands on with students - Fit assistive devices and supportive technology for students ## Safer roles nearby 5 related occupations with lower scores. - [Kindergarten special education teachers35 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/kindergarten-special-education-teachers/) - [Special education teachers36 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/special-education-teachers/) - [Middle school special education teachers38 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/middle-school-special-education-teachers/) - [Preschool special education teachers34 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/preschool-special-education-teachers/) - [Special education assistants30 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/special-education-assistants/) ## Questions about high school special education teachers and AI Will AI replace high school special education teachers? Partly. About 3 in 10 working hours go to tasks AI can already do, mostly drafting course outlines and maintaining student records and reports. Teaching students in the room, managing behavior, and physically supporting learners stay with people. Which tasks are AI taking over for high school special education teachers? Drafting course objectives and outlines scores 75 on the exposure scale, and keeping student records and report writing scores 70. Both are routine document work that AI can produce from curriculum guidelines and past files, leaving the teacher to review and sign off. Which tasks stay human for high school special education teachers? Teaching daily living skills such as hygiene and food preparation scores 10 on exposure, and providing assistive devices or help reaching restrooms scores 12. These need hands on physical instruction and an adult physically present with the student. How can high school special education teachers stay valuable as AI takes over paperwork? Spend the hours AI frees on in-person work that only a person can do. Review every AI-drafted IEP goal and report in Microsoft Word, keep progress data current in Microsoft Excel, and build hands-on daily living and vocational lessons that only you can run. ## Related jobs - [Elementary school teachers41 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/elementary-school-teachers/) - [High school teachers41 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-school-teachers/) - [Kindergarten teachers29 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/kindergarten-teachers/) - [Tutors57 out of 100](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/tutors/) ## Next steps for high school special education teachers - ### Check your job Your job title is a rough guide. Your actual tasks decide your score. Paste your job description or CV and see which of your tasks AI can do. [Check your job](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/ai-exposure-checker/) [Check your CV](https://www.aigentcy.com/tools/cv-checker/) ### Check which roles in your team AI can take on We map your team's tasks, show what AI can do today and build the automations that pay back first. [Book an AI audit](https://www.aigentcy.com/audit/) ## Related topics - [**Jobs AI can't replace**Cement masons score lowest, at 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-cant-replace/) - [**Jobs most at risk from AI**Proofreaders score highest, at 76.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-most-exposed-to-ai/) - [**High-paying jobs with low AI exposure**Radiologists earn a median $420,860 and score 46.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/high-paying-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Entry-level jobs with low AI exposure**Cement masons need little prior training and score 8.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/entry-level-jobs-low-ai-exposure/) - [**Jobs AI speeds up the most**For natural sciences managers, AI speeds up 96% of task time.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs-ai-speeds-up/) - [**AI and jobs in Malta**15 iGaming roles graded task by task.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/malta/) - [**Skills that keep work human**The skills to build in the jobs AI changes least.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/skills/) - [**Jobs A to Z**Every job we publish, by first letter.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/jobs/) - [**AI exposure by industry**Average scores for 22 occupation groups.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/industries/) - [**Write a CV screening software can read**How applicant tracking systems read a CV, and what to change.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/cv-screening-guide/) - [**AI for businesses**The tasks to automate first in each team and industry.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-for/) - [**How we score AI exposure**The grading, the weights and every source.](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/) Occupation data from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and modified by Aigentcy. O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. Wage, employment and projection data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. EU occupation names from ESCO, European Commission. AI usage signals from the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY) and Microsoft Research (CC BY 4.0). [Methodology and sources](https://www.aigentcy.com/ai-exposure/methodology/). Scores © Aigentcy. Quote them with a link to the page.