Will high school special education teachers be replaced by AI?
Updated
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 |
| Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations. AI can generate slides, media and materials to supplement lessons. | 55% AI helps |
| Prepare for assigned classes, and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors. AI can produce lesson prep documents on request, teacher confirms them. | 55% AI helps |
| Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions. AI helps brainstorm strategies, implementation stays with the teacher. | 45% AI helps |
| Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula. AI helps draft lesson plans and schedules, staff confirm them. | 45% AI helps |
| Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies. Ordering and inventory tracking automated, physical storage stays human. | 45% AI helps |
Show the other 30 tasks
| Task | AI exposure |
|---|---|
| Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development. AI drafts IEP content, but meetings with professionals stay human. | 40% AI helps |
| Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate. AI plans balanced activity sequences, live running stays human. | 40% AI helps |
| Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of secondary school programs. AI helps analyze program data, collaboration and decisions stay human. | 40% AI helps |
| Administer standardized ability and achievement tests, and interpret results to determine students' strengths and needs. Test scoring and result summaries AI assisted, administration stays human. | 40% AI helps |
| Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health. Direct observation is human, AI helps write up evaluations. | 35% AI helps |
| Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes. Placement paperwork and scheduling assisted, decisions stay with staff. | 35% AI helps |
| Provide interpretation and transcription of regular classroom materials through Braille and sign language. Braille transcription is software assisted, sign interpretation needs people. | 35% AI helps |
| Monitor teachers and teacher assistants to ensure that they adhere to inclusive special education program requirements. Classroom monitoring is in person, checklists and reports can be AI assisted. | 30% AI helps |
| Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies. Live instruction is human, AI can draft content and examples. | 30% AI helps |
| Meet with parents and guardians to provide guidance in using community resources and to teach skills for dealing with students' impairments. AI can research community resources, parent guidance stays human. | 30% AI helps |
| Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities. AI helps plan trips and activities, supervision stays in person. | 28% AI helps |
| Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems. Resolving problems needs live conversations, AI only summarizes notes. | 25% AI helps |
| Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress. Professional meetings are human, AI only supports note taking. | 25% AI helps |
| Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and to determine priorities for their children and their resource needs. Progress meetings with parents are human, AI prepares summaries. | 25% AI helps |
| Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities. Physical room setup is hands on, materials prep partly assisted. | 22% Needs a person |
| Teach personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, and self-advocacy. Self-advocacy and independence coaching is live, personal teaching. | 20% Needs a person |
| Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory. Sensory and motor instruction is hands on, in-person therapeutic work. | 18% Needs a person |
| Guide and counsel students with adjustments, academic problems, or special academic interests. Counseling students requires live empathy and personal judgement. | 18% Needs a person |
| Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement. Teaching social behavior happens through live in-person interaction. | 15% Needs a person |
| Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks. Encouraging perseverance depends on in-person relationship and motivation. | 15% Needs a person |
| Perform administrative duties, such as school library assistance, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading. Hall, cafeteria, and bus duties are physical supervision tasks. | 15% Needs a person |
| Visit schools to tutor students with sensory impairments and to consult with teachers regarding students' special needs. On-site tutoring of sensory impaired students is hands on, in person. | 15% Needs a person |
| Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students. Enforcing behavior rules is live in-person classroom judgement. | 12% Needs a person |
| Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms. Physically assisting students and fitting devices needs hands on presence. | 12% Needs a person |
| Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence. Attending conferences and workshops is in-person participation. | 12% Needs a person |
| Sponsor extracurricular activities, such as clubs, student organizations, and academic contests. Sponsoring clubs and contests is in person, social activity. | 12% Needs a person |
| Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, and food preparation. Teaching hygiene and food prep requires hands on physical instruction. | 10% Needs a person |
| Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required. Staff meetings and committee service require physical presence. | 10% Needs a person |
| Provide additional instruction in vocational areas. Vocational instruction is hands on skill training with students. | 10% Needs a person |
| Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage. Supervising equipment use for safety is physical and in person. | 8% Needs a person |
How high school special education teachers compare
All occupations (923)
Educational instruction and library (62)
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.
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.
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