SPECIAL EDUCATION

Initiate a discussion with the Explorers by asking: What do you think the responsibilities of special education teachers are? Be sure that all of the following have been addressed.

Special education teachers are responsible for a multitude of activities. These include but are not limited to the following:

• Working with students who have emotional, physical, learning, or mental difficulties
• Writing, maintaining, and monitoring an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for each student
• Collecting data to show growth and/or to develop goals for students
• Writing and presenting lesson plans based on state standards, IEP goals, and/or necessary life or job skills
• Training and/or working with aides or paraprofessionals
• Meeting with parents a minimum of once a year but maintaining open communication on a regular basis throughout the year
• Collaborating with regular education teachers
• Collaborating with other special education teachers
• Modifying the general curriculum to a level more appropriate for individual students
• Maintaining certification based on state requirements
• Attending professional development provided by the school, district, community, and/or state

Areas of Special Education

Ask Explorers to name different areas of special education. These may include the following:

• Intervention specialist—mild to moderate or moderate to intensive (these may vary from state to state)
• Behavior specialist
• Special education (or pupil services) director, supervisor, or administrator
• Deaf or hard of hearing specialist
• Early childhood specialist
• Visual impairments specialist
• Educational aide/paraprofessional

Work Environment

Ask if Explorers know what types of environments special education teachers work in. Begin a discussion, being sure to address the following:

• Generally, special education teachers, or intervention specialists, work in a school setting. They have daily classroom schedules with the same students each day.
• Intervention specialists can also be employed by a school district, a charter school, a private school, or a county board of developmental disabilities.
• Work generally occurs during a nine- to 10-month period, but some may work year-round.

Tell Explorers: In most cases, a minimum of a bachelor’s degree is required to become any kind of teacher. There are some instances where work experience can help you become a teacher in a particular area, such as a business teacher, an automotive technology teacher, or even a science teacher. Someone who works in one of these fields would be able to use his or her work experience to skip some classes that would normally be required for certification. There are also many states that require teachers to earn their master’s degree in order to continue teaching, but there is often a window of up to 10 years in order to earn the master’s degree. But, to start, let’s look at what our state requires for earning a license to teach special education.

Have Explorers use a laptop or their own personal device to go to the state department of education website. They should search for “special education licensure” or “intervention specialist licensure.” (Note that some states use the term “certification” rather than “licensure.”) Another website where Explorers can find requirements for licensure by state is www.specialeducationguide.com. (Sometimes state department of education websites are not easily navigable so the Special Education Guide website might be easier to decipher.)

After looking at their state’s requirements, Explorers should look online for colleges or universities that offer the licensure that interests them. Have Explorers record the specialized courses that are required for their area of interest. After they have had time to record courses, either have them tell the group what they found or, if it is a large group, have them pair up to share with at least one other person to compare any differences in requirements.

Pay

• Have Explorers use a laptop or their personal device to go to bls.gov and search for “special education teachers.” Take a few minutes to walk them through all the information that is provided.
• After sufficient time, have Explorers search the internet for the average teacher salary for their state. (A teacher salary should be the same for regular education teachers and special education teachers.) They can also search for a list of county or school district salaries in their state to compare different areas and search for a list of average teacher salaries by state to see which states pay more.

Renewing Licenses

• Explorers should return to the state department of education website and search for “license renewal” or “certificate renewal” information. This is where they should also be able to find out whether or not they are required to eventually get their master’s degree.

Professional Organizations and Support in the Profession

• Some Explorers could be overwhelmed at what being a special education teacher involves. As a closing activity, have the Explorers visit some of the following professional websites. Show them that there is assistance and support available in many different forms. You could also have them search for special education lesson plans so they can see that there are lots of resources available to help teachers so they don’t have to “reinvent the wheel” every time they plan a lesson.
• bls.gov
• specialeducationguide.com
• http://tea.texas.gov/ (or your state’s department of education site)