For students with disabilities, having a great resource specialist teacher can make all the difference. Also known as special education teachers, resource specialist teachers provide quality education to students with disabilities and ensure that they make the most out of their school experience.
Resource specialist teachers do all the things that regular teachers do, albeit a little differently. For instance, resource specialist teachers create and implement Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to help special students learn in the best ways possible, depending on their individual needs and capabilities. And unlike regular teachers, resource specialist teachers have to go through specialized education and in-class training before becoming qualified to teach children with special needs.
The typical workday of a resource specialist teacher revolves around implementing IEPs, providing remediation instruction, and of course, delivering classroom lectures and activities. Communicating with their students' parents, healthcare providers, and other school staff is also a common activity.
The average salary of a resource specialist teacher ranges from $39,000 to $66,000 a year. For some teachers, providing remedial instruction to special needs students adds to their income.
Resource Specialist Teacher Overview
Resource Specialist Teacher Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a resource specialist teacher. For example, did you know that they make an average of $26.08 an hour? That's $54,251 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 55,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Resource Specialist Teacher Do
There are certain skills that many resource specialist teachers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, communication skills and physical stamina.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a resource specialist teacher, we found that a lot of resumes listed 15.9% of resource specialist teachers included student learning, while 12.6% of resumes included professional development, and 9.5% of resumes included regular basis. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the resource specialist teacher job title. But what industry to start with? Most resource specialist teachers actually find jobs in the education and non profits industries.
How To Become a Resource Specialist Teacher
If you're interested in becoming a resource specialist teacher, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 25.7% of resource specialist teachers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 54.7% of resource specialist teachers have master's degrees. Even though most resource specialist teachers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a resource specialist teacher. When we researched the most common majors for a resource specialist teacher, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on resource specialist teacher resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a resource specialist teacher. In fact, many resource specialist teacher jobs require experience in a role such as teacher. Meanwhile, many resource specialist teachers also have previous career experience in roles such as special education teacher or substitute teacher.
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Resource Specialist Teacher Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a resource specialist teacher can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as resource specialist, progress to a title such as social worker and then eventually end up with the title principal.
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Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Resource Specialist Teacher
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Cascade Union Elementary Resource Specialist Mild/Moderate Teacher for School Year Resource Specialist Mild/Moderate Teacher for School Year | Cascade Union Elementary Cascade Union Elementary | 01/27/2021 01/27/2021 | $45,69001/27/2021 $45,690 |
Santa Cruz County Office of Education Resource Specialist Teacher Pool-Santa Cruz County Cypress High School and Alternative Education Resource Specialist Teacher Pool-Santa Cruz County Cypress High School and Alternative Education | Santa Cruz County Office of Education Santa Cruz County Office of Education | 12/22/2020 12/22/2020 | $45,12612/22/2020 $45,126 |
Yreka Union School District Elementary Resource Specialist Teacher Elementary Resource Specialist Teacher | Yreka Union School District Yreka Union School District | 12/19/2020 12/19/2020 | $49,39112/19/2020 $49,391 |
Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Resource Specialist Program (RSP) Teachers Resource Specialist Program (RSP) Teachers | Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Camino Nuevo Charter Academy | 12/10/2020 12/10/2020 | $53,16612/10/2020 $53,166 |
Sylvan Union School District Resource Specialist Teacher Resource Specialist Teacher | Sylvan Union School District Sylvan Union School District | 01/29/2020 01/29/2020 | $31,28401/29/2020 $31,284 |
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Top Colleges for Resource Specialist Teachers
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
4. New York University
New York, NY • Private
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
6. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL • Public
7. SUNY at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY • Public
8. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Public
9. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
10. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
Top Skills For a Resource Specialist Teacher
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 15.9% of resource specialist teachers listed student learning on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and communication skills are important as well.
- Student Learning, 15.9%
- Professional Development, 12.6%
- Regular Basis, 9.5%
- Special Education, 9.4%
- Classroom Management, 9.2%
- Other Skills, 43.4% See All Resource Specialist Teacher Skills
Best States For a Resource Specialist Teacher
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a resource specialist teacher. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Washington. Resource specialist teachers make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $63,303. Whereas in New York and New Jersey, they would average $62,145 and $58,620, respectively. While resource specialist teachers would only make an average of $57,804 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. District of Columbia
$69,777
Avg. Salary
2. New Jersey
$58,620
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$63,303
Avg. Salary