Teaching Students with Disabilities

Types of Degrees Teaching Students with Disabilities Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many general special education graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	14,052
Bachelor’s Degree	6,415
Graduate Certificate	1,657
Basic Certificate	301
Doctor’s Degree	201
Associate Degree	75
Undergraduate Certificate	56

What Teaching Students with Disabilities Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, teaching students with disabilities majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Teaching Students with Disabilities Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

Skills for Teaching Students with Disabilities Majors

A major in teaching students with disabilities prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Teaching Students with Disabilities Majors

Teaching Students With Disabilities majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

What Can You Do With a Teaching Students with Disabilities Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with teaching students with disabilities:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Adapted Physical Education Specialists	9.9%	$56,680
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School	7.4%	$59,390
Special Education Teachers, Middle School	7.2%	$60,250
Special Education Teachers, Preschool	11.3%	$55,840
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School	7.4%	$60,600

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Teaching Students with Disabilities?

This major is dominated by women with about 90% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of teaching students with disabilities majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	92
Black or African American	281
Hispanic or Latino	736
White	4,886
International Students	29
Other Races/Ethnicities	391

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Teaching Students with Disabilities. About 0.5% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Teaching Students with Disabilities

Some degrees associated with teaching students with disabilities may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for teaching students with disabilities careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Some College Courses	0.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	0.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	53.0%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	15.5%
Master’s Degree	27.2%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	1.4%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	1.7%
Doctoral Degree	1.2%

Online Teaching Students with Disabilities Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	18	3
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	1
Associate’s Degree	37	1
Bachelor’s Degree	156	58
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	546	162
Post-Master’s	70	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	65	3
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	0

Majors Related to Teaching Students with Disabilities

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to teaching students with disabilities.

Major	Number of Grads
Education/Teaching of Individuals in Early Childhood Special Education Programs	3,547
Elementary Special Education	1,748
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Multiple Disabilities	1,354
Other Special Education & Teaching	1,246
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Autism	1,132
Education/Teaching of Individuals in Secondary Special Education Programs	738
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Specific Learning Disabilities	546
Education/Teaching of the Gifted & Talented	481
Education of the Deaf	350
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Speech or Language Impairments	245
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Vision Impairments Including Blindness	193
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Emotional Disturbances	139
Education/Teaching of Individuals Who are Developmentally Delayed	114
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities	80
Education/Teaching of Individuals in Junior High/Middle School Special Education Programs	79
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injuries	57
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Orthopedic & Other Physical Health Impairments	37

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By woodleywonderworks under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.