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Para professional vs special education assistant

The differences between para professionals and special education assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a special education assistant has an average salary of $32,149, which is higher than the $28,118 average annual salary of a para professional.

The top three skills for a para professional include para-professional, mathematics and IEP. The most important skills for a special education assistant are paraprofessional, behavior management, and IEP.

Para professional vs special education assistant overview

Para ProfessionalSpecial Education Assistant
Yearly salary$28,118$32,149
Hourly rate$13.52$15.46
Growth rate4%4%
Number of jobs90,68962,239
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Average age4444
Years of experience--

Para professional vs special education assistant salary

Para professionals and special education assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Para ProfessionalSpecial Education Assistant
Average salary$28,118$32,149
Salary rangeBetween $20,000 And $38,000Between $25,000 And $40,000
Highest paying CityGlen Cove, NYNew York, NY
Highest paying stateRhode IslandRhode Island
Best paying companySchneider Electric Industrial ServicesBenicia Unified School District
Best paying industryEducationEducation

Differences between para professional and special education assistant education

There are a few differences between a para professional and a special education assistant in terms of educational background:

Para ProfessionalSpecial Education Assistant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Most common majorBusinessPsychology
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University

Para professional vs special education assistant demographics

Here are the differences between para professionals' and special education assistants' demographics:

Para ProfessionalSpecial Education Assistant
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 24.7% Female, 75.3%Male, 21.9% Female, 78.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 8.7% White, 58.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 18.8% Asian, 8.7% White, 57.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4%
LGBT Percentage6%6%

Differences between para professional and special education assistant duties and responsibilities

Para professional example responsibilities.

  • Train and manage kindergarten classroom and achieve significant improvements in their productivity.
  • Perform responsible human support and paraprofessional work assisting classroom teacher or other professionals, achieve institution objectives.
  • Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) design to promote students' educational, physical, or social development.
  • Obtain CPI certification through the school district.
  • Follow ABA procedure by redirecting students when behavior occurs.
  • Implement learning and ABA programs as written and instruct by the BCBA.
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Special education assistant example responsibilities.

  • Perform responsible human support and paraprofessional work assisting classroom teacher or other professionals, achieve institution objectives.
  • Implement behavioral plans design by IEP team for students with behavior disorders or other learning disabilities
  • Accompany students to special classes (art, music, PE) and on field trips.
  • Complete Medicaid forms on a daily basis.
  • Assist special needs children with independent skills and work tasks, fill out Medicaid paperwork.
  • Provide one on one attention to pre-k partner child with multiple activities while promoting language and developmental skills.
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Para professional vs special education assistant skills

Common para professional skills
  • Para-Professional, 19%
  • Mathematics, 10%
  • IEP, 7%
  • Kindergarten, 6%
  • CPR, 5%
  • Crisis Intervention, 4%
Common special education assistant skills
  • Paraprofessional, 15%
  • Behavior Management, 10%
  • IEP, 9%
  • CPR, 7%
  • Adaptive, 7%
  • Behavioral Issues, 6%

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