Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Job outlook for assistant professors of special education in the United States
Are assistant professor of special education jobs in demand?
Assistant professor of special education job and salary trends over time
Assistant professor of special education jobs over time
Assistant professor of special education job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 773 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 757 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 806 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 801 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 796 | 0.00% |
Average assistant professor of special education salary over time
Assistant professor of special education salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $68,088 | $32.73 | --0.1% |
| 2025 | $68,161 | $32.77 | +1.1% |
| 2024 | $67,402 | $32.40 | +1.2% |
| 2023 | $66,611 | $32.02 | +2.4% |
| 2022 | $65,050 | $31.27 | +1.6% |
Assistant professor of special education jobs by state
Most common states for assistant professors of special education
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 187 | 27% |
| 2 | Vermont | 623,657 | 110 | 18% |
| 3 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 294 | 15% |
| 4 | Kentucky | 4,454,189 | 640 | 14% |
| 5 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 465 | 11% |
| 6 | Alaska | 739,795 | 79 | 11% |
| 7 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 64 | 11% |
| 8 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 553 | 10% |
| 9 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 1,179 | 9% |
| 10 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 561 | 9% |
| 11 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 287 | 9% |
| 12 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 121 | 9% |
| 13 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 92 | 9% |
| 14 | Delaware | 961,939 | 82 | 9% |
| 15 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 81 | 9% |
| 16 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 888 | 8% |
| 17 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 290 | 8% |
| 18 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 152 | 8% |
| 19 | Maine | 1,335,907 | 104 | 8% |
| 20 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 84 | 8% |
Most common cities for assistant professors of special education
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juneau | 1 | 3% | $75,461 |
| 2 | Lawrence | 1 | 1% | $70,906 |
| 3 | Washington | 2 | 0% | $106,844 |
Assistant Professor Of Special Education job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of assistant professor of special education experts
University of New England
University of South Alabama
Oklahoma State University
Longwood University
University of South Florida
University of Houston-Clear Lake
UNC Charlotte
What Assistant Professor Of Special Education skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Peter Badalament: Do everything you can to get a foot in the door - substitute teacher or get hired as a paraprofessional. I know that many schools hire teachers from pools of people they know. Preserve. Getting hired as an educator can be challenging at times, so hang in there.
What general advice would you give to an Assistant Professor Of Special Education?
Nicole Amare Ph.D.: Undergraduates at our institution are encouraged to complete an internship prior to graduation to gain experience and network with others in their chosen subfield of English studies, so waiting until graduation to start thinking about their career options will probably be too late. New graduates are encouraged to use their strong reading, analytical, and writing skills to craft a resume and job application letter or email tailored to individual career positions, but again, most students should have those documents drafted as early as sophomore year and preferably already have applied their skills in one or more internship opportunities.
What will help Assistant Professors Of Special Education increase their earning potential?
Dr. Sarah Donovan: The field of education needs to continue to professionalize like healthcare fields. Teachers from accredited programs with certification will earn a higher salary.
Teachers are in high demand in many states, and some school districts are offering incentives. Many of these incentives require teachers to make a commitment to the school and community for a number of years.
Graduate programs are now available online and in person. Graduate degrees in education need not be completed quickly nor are they necessarily about 'finishing.' I think there is a lot to gain from taking one class per semester or one graduate class each summer to nurture ongoing collaboration with education faculty and higher education communities. The graduate peers and faculty become another network of support, and each course can contribute to salary bumps. Also, some school districts will pay or supplement graduate courses as ongoing professional development.
Dr. Audrey Church Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Education and Counseling; Professor of School LibrarianshipLongwood University
Education
What will help Assistant Professors Of Special Education increase their earning potential?
Dr. Audrey Church Ph.D.: For those entering their first teaching position, I would give the following advice:
--Be sure that you are familiar with the policies of your school and school district. You want to be well-informed and knowledgeable so that you know what is expected of you as a teaching professional.
--Start immediately to build relationships with others on your team-your grade level team, your department team, etc.
--Become active in the professional association of your field, starting perhaps at the state level, for example, with the state affiliate of the National Council of Teachers of English or the Council for Exceptional Children or the American Association of School Librarians.
What Assistant Professor Of Special Education skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Christina O'Connor Ph.D.: Teachers need to have an understanding of trauma-informed practice and incorporate social-emotional learning into the classroom. They also need to understand and be adept with using artificial intelligence as an instructional tool as well as know how to identify when AI is being used to deceive or falsify information. Information literacy is extremely important.
What skills stand out on Assistant Professor Of Special Education resumes?
Lee Braver: Colleges and universities fall into different categories which value different skills and accomplishments. The most obvious division is between schools that emphasize research and those that pride themselves on their teaching. Research institutions are looking for scholars who can publish a lot in exclusive journals and presses, thereby enhancing their reputation. They are looking for evidence of research skills: publications, awards, letters of recommendation that praise the candidate's writing and thinking. Teaching schools, on the other hand, are looking for excellent teachers. In the buyer's market we now have, they can require high research ability as well, but some will actually be scared off by too much research. They will worry that the candidate will focus on their research instead of their teaching and that they will seek to leave as soon as they can. These schools are typically looking for teaching experience, high student evaluations, and letters that single out these qualities for praise, whereas research schools typically don't care a lot about these sorts of things. Thus, the qualities one type of institution values, the other can be apathetic towards or even avoid. Teaching schools far outnumber research schools, so there are far more jobs in the former than in the latter.
What soft skills should all Assistant Professors Of Special Education possess?
Lee Braver: Soft skills are most important to working once one has gotten a job rather than important to getting a job since those are quite difficult to discern from applications and brief interviews. That is one of the reasons schools can be wary of hiring with tenure; a person could look great on paper but be a nightmare to work with, and you're stuck with them.
I believe that tenacity, organizational skills and time management, and the ability to work long hours are crucial to getting tenure and succeeding in academia more broadly, in some ways more important than raw intelligence (if such a notion is coherent). Failure and rejection are endemic to the job; anyone who gets discouraged easily will do so. One must persevere in the face of sometimes harsh criticism and hostile conditions (especially now that much of the country has turned against higher education and the humanities in particular), and one must be able to juggle multiple responsibilities that make considerable time demands. In this, the tenure track resembles other early-career positions, such as medical residency or working towards partnership in a law firm. The untenured often must do the scut work that no one else wants to do, made more difficult by the fact that they are frantically trying to learn on the job with little to no guidance. It is not at all unusual for early-career professors to teach 4 classes per semester, at least some of which are new and/or large, do all the grading for them, serve on multiple committees, and write for elusive publications, all at once.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Assistant Professors Of Special Education?
Lee Braver: Well, a Ph.D. is necessary, although one can sometimes be hired within striking distance of it. The ability to teach so as to bring students to the major and get high student evaluations are often requirements at teaching schools while writing well enough to publish, often in journals with single-digit acceptance rates, is crucial to research schools. Comfort with technology is becoming more and more important.
What skills will help Assistant Professors Of Special Education earn the most?
Lee Braver: Let's see-an M.B.A., the ability to pick winning lottery numbers, being repelled by the humanities so that one goes into business-those would be pretty useful for making money. No one should go into academia for the money, not just not for wealth but even for a comfortable living, which is becoming more difficult to achieve in America in general. It is nearly impossible to make a living as an adjunct professor, which is where the profession is heading. There are many good-paying jobs, but those tend to congregate at the elite schools, the ones that emphasize research the most, and these are the fewest and hardest to get. Worse-paying jobs are also hard to come by, and the competition is just getting stiffer as more Ph.D.'s get dumped into the market each year which is itself accreting all those who did not land jobs in the previous years. At many institutions, raises are minimal since jobs are so hard to come by, and there's little else that rewards a humanities Ph.D. The only way to get a substantial raise is to get a credible offer from another institution and hope that yours wants to keep you enough to overbid them; otherwise, you're stuck, especially after getting tenure, and they know it. That's why tenure is called "golden handcuffs," though I think a better name might be something like velvet handcuffs, given gold's connotation of wealth.
Terry Chvala
Senior Lecturer of Early Childhood EducationUniversity of Houston-Clear Lake
College of Education
What skills stand out on Assistant Professor Of Special Education resumes?
Terry Chvala: Growing trend in "soft marketable skills," professional dispositions (body language, active listening, confidence, modeling professional attributes, etc.) (some more so due to Covid, but will continue to be skills that are sought after).
Brad Smith
Director of Teacher Education Advising and LicensureUNC Charlotte
Department of Teacher Education Advising and Licensure
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Assistant Professors Of Special Education to find work opportunities?
Brad Smith: There has, for some time, been a significant teacher shortage in many areas across the country. In NC, educator recruitment initiatives of all types exist in school districts, state agencies, and colleges and universities. Still, it's not uncommon for schools to begin the academic year with vacancies. I recommend that individuals interested in a teaching career review the licensing requirements in their state and speak with an advisor at a state-approved and accredited teacher education program to understand their options. Many states, NC included, have processes in place that make it possible for individuals who hold a bachelor's degree to begin teaching while they complete licensure coursework, creating a smoother transition for those changing careers. Teaching is an absolutely incredible profession. Your future students need you!