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Job outlook for early childhood special education teachers in the United States
Are early childhood special education teacher jobs in demand?
Early childhood special education teacher job and salary trends over time
Early childhood special education teacher jobs over time
Early childhood special education teacher job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 378 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 364 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 400 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 421 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 511 | 0.00% |
Average early childhood special education teacher salary over time
Early childhood special education teacher salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $35,222 | $16.93 | +2.3% |
| 2025 | $34,419 | $16.55 | +7.4% |
| 2024 | $32,033 | $15.40 | +4.1% |
| 2023 | $30,771 | $14.79 | +2.2% |
| 2022 | $30,094 | $14.47 | --2.8% |
Early childhood special education teacher jobs by state
Most common states for early childhood special education teachers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 211 | 30% |
| 2 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 371 | 19% |
| 3 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 240 | 18% |
| 4 | Delaware | 961,939 | 162 | 17% |
| 5 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 163 | 16% |
| 6 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 813 | 15% |
| 7 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 86 | 15% |
| 8 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 1,761 | 14% |
| 9 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 866 | 14% |
| 10 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 855 | 14% |
| 11 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 779 | 14% |
| 12 | Kentucky | 4,454,189 | 616 | 14% |
| 13 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 291 | 14% |
| 14 | Vermont | 623,657 | 89 | 14% |
| 15 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 1,676 | 13% |
| 16 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 1,172 | 13% |
| 17 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 1,375 | 12% |
| 18 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 845 | 12% |
| 19 | Oklahoma | 3,930,864 | 457 | 12% |
| 20 | Michigan | 9,962,311 | 1,047 | 11% |
Early Childhood Special Education Teacher job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of early childhood special education teacher experts
New York University
Adelphi University
University of Guam
Cabrini University
Gibraltar Public School
Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis
Marshall University
Utah State University
Augustana University
Missouri State University
What Early Childhood Special Education Teacher skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jennifer Lesh Ph.D.: Technological Proficiency: With the ongoing integration of technology in educational settings, teachers will need to be adept at using assistive technology to support students with special needs. This includes both hardware and software that facilitate communication, learning, and accessibility. Definitely include the use of generative AI in your teacher preparation practices for positive time saver! Data Literacy: Being able to collect, interpret, and apply data to tailor educational approaches to individual student needs will be crucial. Data-driven decision-making can help in creating effective IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) and monitoring student progress. Cultural Competency: As classrooms continue to diversify, understanding and respecting cultural differences and incorporating culturally responsive teaching methods will be essential. Collaboration and Teamwork: Special education often involves working closely with general education teachers, parents, and other professionals such as speech therapists or psychologists. Skills in collaboration and co-teaching will be vital. Emotional Intelligence: The ability to recognize and respond to students' emotional needs, as well as manage your own emotions, will be increasingly important in creating a supportive learning environment. Flexibility and Adaptability: With the fast pace of change in educational policies, practices, and student populations, special education teachers will need to be able to adapt their teaching styles and strategies quickly and effectively. Advocacy Skills: Being able to advocate for the rights and needs of students with disabilities will remain an important skill, including navigating the legal aspects of special education and working with families to ensure that students receive the services and support which they are entitled. Behavior Management: Developing strategies to effectively support positive behavior and address challenging behavior will continue to be a critical skill in the special education field. These skills will support a holistic and adaptive approach to special education, ensuring that educators are well-equipped to meet the evolving challenges and opportunities in the field.
What general advice would you give to an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher?
LaSheba Hilliard Ed.D.: Pursue advanced certifications and degrees: Obtaining additional certifications or advanced degrees in special education or related fields can enhance your qualifications and increase your earning potential.
Seek out high-demand areas: Consider specializing in high-demand areas within special education, such as autism spectrum disorders, behavioral disorders, or early intervention, which may offer higher salaries and more opportunities for advancement.
Gain experience and expertise: Invest in gaining practical experience and developing expertise in specific areas of special education through field experiences in classrooms, volunteer work, or specialized training programs, which can make you more competitive in the job market.
Negotiate salary and benefits: Research salary benchmarks for special education positions in your region and negotiate salary and benefits packages with potential employers based on your qualifications, experience, and the demand for special education professionals in the area.
What will help Early Childhood Special Education Teachers increase their earning potential?
LaSheba Hilliard Ed.D.: Technological proficiency: As technology plays a significant role in education, proficiency in educational software, assistive technologies, and adaptive learning platforms will be increasingly valuable.
Cultural competence and diversity awareness: With an increasingly diverse student population, educators need to be culturally competent and able to address the unique needs and backgrounds of their students.
Data analysis and evidence-based practices: Utilizing data to inform instructional decisions and implementing evidence-based practices will be essential for optimizing student outcomes and meeting accountability standards.
Collaboration and teamwork: Effective collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, including other educators, therapists, and specialists, will become more critical for creating comprehensive support systems for students with special needs.
What Early Childhood Special Education Teacher skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Diana Turk Ph.D.: The ability to reach and teach students with disabilities, students who have been trauma impacted, and students with specified language learning needs is going to be of even more importance than it is now (and it's essential now). New teachers should consider dual certifications (content area or elementary education plus teaching students with disabilities or English language learners) to maximize their skills and capacities for reaching and teaching all learners.
What will help Early Childhood Special Education Teachers increase their earning potential?
Dr. Diana Turk Ph.D.: The ability to reach and teach students with disabilities, students who have been trauma impacted, and students with specified language learning needs is going to be of even more importance than it is now (and it's essential now). New teachers should consider dual certifications (content area or elementary education plus teaching students with disabilities or English language learners) to maximize their skills and capacities for reaching and teaching all learners.
What Early Childhood Special Education Teacher skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Stephen Shore Ed.D.: With increasing recognition of the wide diversity of how people think, increasing numbers of students are being identified as having special needs. An additional bonus is that the instructor becomes a better teacher overall since adjustments made on their students' behalf are actually just extensions of good teaching practice.
What will help Early Childhood Special Education Teachers increase their earning potential?
Jennifer Kurth: Being a special education teacher is a wonderful career - it offers lasting opportunities to make a difference and change lives. With this opportunity comes needs to build relationships with students and families to work towards effective collaboration and support. Special education is a team approach, and collaborating with others lets teachers leverage the skills and expertise of others as the team works towards the common goal of supporting the student in pursuing their goals. I would also recommend new teachers stay organized - special education involves a lot of important paperwork, so developing a system to keep track of this, without letting it feel like overwhelming, is essential. I recommend that teachers seek strengths in themselves but especially in their students. Identifying those strengths lets us leverage them in ways that enable students to thrive - so always find those unique skills and interests to build upon. Finally, take care of yourself. Teaching can be demanding, especially in special education. Jake sure to prioritize your self-care and maintain a healthy and sustainable work-life balance. You'll be better able to support your students when you are well rested and emotionally grounded - these will also be traits that facilitate your longevity in this great field!
Matthew Limtiaco
Assistant Professor of Elementary EducationUniversity of Guam
School of Education
What soft skills should all Early Childhood Special Education Teachers possess?
Matthew Limtiaco: Empathy, patience, and a fearless capacity to critically examine the nature of our education practices (both as an individual practitioner and as an active member of a field that is in constant evolution). Education priorities have prioritized job placement, skills demanded by industry, and individual attainment. Despite warnings regarding impending climate change, increased social disparity, and a reemergence of authoritarian government systems globally, our education priorities have shifted with minimal effort to meet these challenges since I entered the field over two decades ago.
COVID has shined a spotlight on flaws and opportunities teachers might seize. Our field is uniquely positioned to address these challenges by influencing measurable shifts in human behavior so that our children are poised to adjust social behavior, governmental policy, and economic trends. We have an opportunity to celebrate communal success over individual gain, critical examination over immediate and convenient answers, and global mindedness over xenophobia. Many say there is no going back to the way it was before COVID. In the case of education, that might not be such a bad thing.
What skills stand out on Early Childhood Special Education Teacher resumes?
Matthew Limtiaco: An appreciation for the diversity in any given classroom is critical, along with the skills and commitment toward meeting the needs of students who come from a myriad of family backgrounds, social settings, belief systems, economic statuses', and histories of access and familiarity with our education system.
Each student brings with them a completely different set of skills, interests, fears, and struggles. Our capacity for empathy, honesty, and resourcefulness directly translates to student and classroom experience. Teachers reach students when they have the tools to connect with each student, show them that they are caring adults, and help each student realize their potential through measurable development in content areas as well as soft skills.
This is true online or in face-to-face settings. Online classrooms teachers are maximizing the reduced window of interaction with students by streamlining the delivery and assessment of content. No doubt, this priority is influenced by a culture of results-oriented teaching based on narrow measures. This compromise is made with a cost. Efforts toward social-emotional support should be increased in online classes, while content expectations should be relaxed during perhaps the most stressful time our young ones and their families have faced in their lives. Any absence of empathy and soft skill development in online settings is a product of decades-old priorities placed on high-stakes tests based on national standards.
Teachers entering the field should have a strong understanding of the need for social-emotional support and an ability to meet the needs of diverse students.
Amber Gentile
Graduate Secondary Education Program Coordinator, Middle Level Program Coordinator, Assistant Professor of Teacher EducationCabrini University
Teacher Education Program
What experience really stands out on Early Childhood Special Education Teacher resumes?
Amber Gentile: Experience working with children stands out due to the experience itself and that it reflects an interest in working with youth. It also helps if teacher candidates have experience working in an urban setting or an underperforming school to appreciate the challenges that may exist in the field. It allows candidates to speak of personal experiences in an interview that highlights the challenges they have witnessed/experienced and how they worked to overcome them. Educators need to be in it for the kids.
The experience that shows leadership capabilities and active involvement in projects is a stand out as well. We need teacher leaders and educators who get involved and make active contributions to the betterment of the community.
Andrew Burgess
Special Education TeacherGibraltar Public School
Department of Special Education
What type of skills will young Early Childhood Special Education Teachers need?
Andrew Burgess: Graduates will need to be much more versatile with technology. Learning to teach online will be the next step in the evolution of teaching. Understanding how a virtual classroom runs and what it takes to run that classroom is a must for them.
Patricia Rogan Ph.D.
Professor, Special Education/Urban Teacher EducationIndiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis
IUPUI School of Education
What general advice would you give to an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher?
Patricia Rogan Ph.D.: Education graduates should work to stand out in the crowd during their Student Teaching experiences and make connections with school administrators. After graduation, they should tap all possible personal/professional contacts for job leads, stay in touch with their university faculty, and NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK. Our grads should interview schools as much as schools are interviewing them, so they find the right fit. Education graduates should remember that when they are interviewing and seeking employment, they should be asking questions that are important to them and align with their teaching values. It may make sense to take a short-term appointment (e.g., for maternity leave) in order to get a foot in the door in a district in which the graduate would like to work.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Early Childhood Special Education Teachers in the next 3-5 years?
Patricia Rogan Ph.D.: Educators will continue to advance learning in online or virtual contexts and will use a wider variety of e-learning tools and resources to bring the curriculum to life. Schools will ensure that students have access to computers and the internet, and students will be more tech-savvy as a result of increased online learning. Specific technology that enhances and enriches students' individualized experiences with content and instruction will be key. For example, future teachers may want to become familiarized with technology (including assistive technology) that facilitates learning for students with learning disabilities, students who are emergent bilinguals, and students who may need to access applications or software that engages visual, auditory, tactile, and/or kinesthetic learning in a multitude of ways.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Early Childhood Special Education Teachers?
Teresa Eagle: The pandemic has most definitely created challenges for our teacher candidates. (College students in their last couple of years before graduation). Classes and clinical experiences have been disrupted or transformed into strange new experiences that are unlike pre-pandemic time. But I fully expect our graduates to be successful.
Teaching always requires flexibility and learning new techniques-our current students are just getting experience with the demands of flexibility, early in their teaching experiences. The real question is how the pandemic will affect K-12 schools. If on the other side of COVID, we see changes in the way the education system functions, then our graduates entering the profession at the onset of changes will be better prepared to meet the needs of schools and school children.
How do you envision technology impacting Early Childhood Special Education Teachers in the next 5 years?
Teresa Eagle: Imagine a school system faced with a highly contagious virus fifty years ago. The technology of 2020 has made it possible to continue teaching and learning, in a time when physical proximity is a serious concern. The alternatives are clearly not perfect, but virtual learning is better than it would have been even ten years ago. Now parents, politicians, and educators are demanding improved access to virtual education.
The longer the pandemic disrupts in-person schools, the louder the demand for improved learning formats will be. Technology, with all the associated elements, is already stepping up to meet these demands, though not as quickly as we might like. With even better technology, the results of the pandemic may well be increased opportunities for students and teachers, with improved connections and nearly unlimited possibilities for education, better tailored to meet the individual needs of students.
Sylvia Read Ph.D.
Professor and Associate Dean for Teacher EducationUtah State University
Department of Education
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Early Childhood Special Education Teachers?
Sylvia Read Ph.D.: I believe that the nature of teaching will be forever affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The importance of social and emotional learning has been reinforced. We better appreciate and understand the value of the relationship between teachers and students that is foundational to learning. There is also a fundamental shift in the relationship between schools and families, with teachers and administrators collaborating more closely with families. The pandemic has also made more obvious the digital divide and fundamental inequities in school funding that make it much harder for many students and families to engage in learning remotely. Graduates will be faced with these inequities and be activists on behalf of students and families who are disproportionately impacted by poverty, lack of access to health care, and inadequate access to the internet, libraries, and other services that support learning.
Dr. Michelle Powers
Assistant Professor of Special EducationAugustana University
School of Education
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Early Childhood Special Education Teachers?
Dr. Michelle Powers: One of the differences, about the pandemic compared to other large scale events, is that this event touched everyone's lives. No one was left without an impact from going through COVID 19. As future professionals, our graduates are at a point in their lives when they are ready to make their mark on this world. Knowing what is ahead of them, with the potential for future health challenges such as this, I would say there is a substantial impact on how they now perceive their future and their role. They see the challenges of communities, which, of course, include our school systems, struggling to balance personal rights and health concerns. As part of Augustana's core values, our students are focused on caring for one another and the world around us. I expect our graduates, having lived and learned under these unusual times, will pursue their vocation of teaching with great passion and a deep commitment to providing the best educational opportunities possible for their students, no matter what circumstances or challenges we face in the future.
How do you envision technology impacting Early Childhood Special Education Teachers in the next 5 years?
Dr. Michelle Powers: The importance of a skilled professional in the classroom continues to be the most critical factor in influencing student educational achievement. Being proficient in using technology, as a school tool, has never been more essential than today, but its value will never be outweighed by the teacher who wields the tool. Educators are challenged to remain current, as technology continues to evolve, which can be overwhelming, especially to the new teaching professional. Using your mentors and staying focused on the purpose of technology in the classroom will help to streamline the selection and integration of the most influential technology practices in the school. It is an exciting time to be an educator, and technology is a big part of that excitement. Still, ultimately, the real excitement is in seeing students engaged, excited, and learning.
What general advice would you give to an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher?
Chris Craig: Need to be a strong advocate during COVID 19, as the general approach that has been proposed by school districts during the reopening creates unique challenges for children with disabilities and their families. More than ever, I need to thoroughly understand the role of the family, as a partner, in meeting milestones leading to a successful transition and employment/post-secondary education.