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Educator Vs Special Educator

The differences between educators and special educators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a special educator has an average salary of $53,565, which is higher than the $43,760 average annual salary of an educator.

The top three skills for an educator include customer service, product knowledge and patients. The most important skills for a special educator are autism, student learning, and math.

Educator vs special educator overview

EducatorSpecial Educator
Yearly Salary$43,760$53,565
Hourly rate$21.04$25.75
Growth Rate4%4%
Number Of Jobs28,01962,545
Job Satisfaction--
Most Common DegreeBachelor's Degree, 65%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Average Age4243
Years Of Experience--

What does an Educator do?

An educator is responsible for teaching students and contributes to their learning development. Duties of an educator include creating learning modules and materials, developing engaging activities, and facilitating learners' discussions. They are also in charge of monitoring the learners' progress, evaluating learners' knowledge by providing a series of assessments, helping a learner to gain self-confidence, and encouraging the learners to reach their maximum potential. An educator should have excellent communication and adaptation skills, especially on adjusting to different learning methods and approaches that the students will need.

What does a special educator do?

A special education teacher's role is to facilitate learning for students with disabilities. The responsibilities of a special education teacher typically revolve around identifying the needs of students, devising lesson plans and strategies to meet their needs, developing test structure to assess their learning, and assisting them in areas of difficulties. It is also essential to coordinate with families and guardians, reporting to them should there be any problems. Furthermore, as a special education teacher, it is necessary to monitor the students' progress and behavior, maintaining a safe and healthy learning environment for them.

Educator vs special educator salary

Educators and special educators have different pay scales, as shown below.

EducatorSpecial Educator
Average Salary$43,760$53,565
Salary RangeBetween $29,000 And $65,000Between $38,000 And $75,000
Highest Paying CityNew York, NYOceanside, NY
Highest Paying StateNew YorkNew York
Best Paying CompanyGoogleCapistrano Unified
Best Paying IndustryEducationGovernment

Differences between educator and special educator education

There are a few differences between an educator and a special educator in terms of educational background:

EducatorSpecial Educator
Most Common DegreeBachelor's Degree, 65%Bachelor's Degree, 61%
Most Common MajorEducationSpecial Education
Most Common CollegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaNorthwestern University

Educator vs special educator demographics

Here are the differences between educators' and special educators' demographics:

EducatorSpecial Educator
Average Age4243
Gender RatioMale, 28.9% Female, 71.1%Male, 21.3% Female, 78.7%
Race RatioBlack or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 12.8% Asian, 3.7% White, 69.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 3.6% White, 71.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage9%8%

Differences between educator and special educator duties and responsibilities

Educator Example Responsibilities.

  • Manage classroom behavior, oversee instruction for under-performing, over-achieving and ESL students, and lead private tutoring lessons.
  • Manage revolving caseload of students with IEP team including initials, transfer placements, manifestation determinations.
  • Develop curriculum and teach PC, GED and ABE adult education classes.
  • Involve in new employee orientation to the facility as well as teaching BLS and ACLS
  • Collaborate with math professionals in reinforcing concepts acquire within the student's primary learning environment.
  • Help meet WIC program participation goals.
  • Show More

Special Educator Example Responsibilities.

  • Lead the data team with interpreting results, including NWEA and other benchmark assessments.
  • Develop individual lesson plans at Pre-K level.
  • Work collaboratively with teachers in mathematics and writing.
  • Counsele and provide special education to senior kindergarten students.
  • Implement an individualize curriculum for a kindergarten student with a moderate cognitive impairment.
  • Develop interactive computer lessons to enhance science and math curriculum and student engagement utilizing technology.
  • Show More

Educator vs special educator skills

Common Educator Skills
  • Customer Service, 20%
  • Product Knowledge, 10%
  • Patients, 8%
  • Classroom Management, 8%
  • Curriculum Development, 5%
  • Professional Development, 5%
Common Special Educator Skills
  • Autism, 9%
  • Student Learning, 8%
  • Math, 7%
  • Public Schools, 7%
  • Learning Environment, 6%
  • Mathematics, 6%

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