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Para professional vs teacher assistant

The differences between para professionals and teacher assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a para professional has an average salary of $28,118, which is higher than the $27,103 average annual salary of a teacher assistant.

The top three skills for a para professional include para-professional, mathematics and IEP. The most important skills for a teacher assistant are CPR, child care, and mathematics.

Para professional vs teacher assistant overview

Para ProfessionalTeacher Assistant
Yearly salary$28,118$27,103
Hourly rate$13.52$13.03
Growth rate4%4%
Number of jobs90,68977,358
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Average age4444
Years of experience--

Para professional vs teacher assistant salary

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

Para ProfessionalTeacher Assistant
Average salary$28,118$27,103
Salary rangeBetween $20,000 And $38,000Between $21,000 And $34,000
Highest paying CityGlen Cove, NYCoventry, RI
Highest paying stateRhode IslandRhode Island
Best paying companySchneider Electric Industrial ServicesUniversity of California, Berkeley
Best paying industryEducationFinance

Differences between para professional and teacher assistant education

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

Para ProfessionalTeacher Assistant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 51%Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Most common majorBusinessPsychology
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityDuke University

Para professional vs teacher assistant demographics

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

Para ProfessionalTeacher Assistant
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 24.7% Female, 75.3%Male, 21.5% Female, 78.5%
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, 10.2% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 21.1% Asian, 7.8% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3%
LGBT Percentage6%6%

Differences between para professional and teacher 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.
    • Show more

Teacher assistant example responsibilities.

  • Lead chemistry recitations, prepare lessons, and coordinate student problem solving sessions.
  • Manage student supervision in various environments including classrooms, halls, cafeterias, schoolyards, gymnasiums, and field trip locations.
  • Lead debates with advance students on topics including globalization, economics, and political history.
  • Help clients with ADL's.
  • Assist MH/MR clients with ADL's.
  • Substitute teacher grades from k-5.
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Para professional vs teacher assistant skills

Common para professional skills
  • Para-Professional, 19%
  • Mathematics, 10%
  • IEP, 7%
  • Kindergarten, 6%
  • CPR, 5%
  • Crisis Intervention, 4%
Common teacher assistant skills
  • CPR, 18%
  • Child Care, 14%
  • Mathematics, 10%
  • Art Projects, 7%
  • Instructional Materials, 5%
  • Learning Environment, 5%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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