AI exposure: Special Education Teachers, Elementary School
Teach academic, social, and life skills to elementary school students with learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Includes teachers who specialize and work with students who are blind or have visual impairments; students who are deaf or have hearing impairments; and students with intellectual disabilities.
Reading this score
computed31.3% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Special Education Teachers, Elementary School at the 55th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.2 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 30 tasks it averages 2.08 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work depends on knowledge the model cannot hold. Much of this job runs on things that were never written down: what this particular organisation does, what happened last week, what the person across the table actually meant. That context is the barrier, and it erodes as systems are given more access.
The most exposed thing this job does is Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students, at 86.7%. The least is Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to..., at 0.0%. A gap of 86.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within educational instruction and library occupations, this one is less exposed than the median of 42.4% across the group's 62 roles, with 51 scoring higher. Being in an exposed family does not make a particular job exposed, and the reverse holds too.
What would move this score. Of 30 tasks, 13 are currently banded exposed, 7 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take systems being given deeper access to the organisation's own records and history, which is already happening. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
30 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.47 | exposed |
| Plan or conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.33 | exposed |
| Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or school or state requirements. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.28 | exposed |
| Organize and supervise games or other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, or social development. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.92 | exposed |
| Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.69 | exposed |
| Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.68 | exposed |
| Plan or supervise experiential learning activities, such as class projects, field trips, demonstrations, or visits by guest speakers. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.43 | exposed |
| Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, or social development. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.55 | exposed |
| Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise elementary school programs. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.18 | exposed |
| Confer with other staff members to plan or schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.12 | exposed |
| Guide or counsel students with adjustment problems, academic problems, or special academic interests. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.45 | exposed |
| Prepare, administer, or grade tests or assignments to evaluate students' progress. | 38.5% | 28.1% | 33.3% | 4.09 | exposed |
| Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment or materials to prevent injuries and damage. | 28.3% | 21.7% | 50.0% | 4.11 | exposed |
| Modify the general elementary education curriculum for students with disabilities. | 25.0% | 50.0% | 25.0% | 4.72 | assisted |
| Interpret the results of standardized tests to determine students' strengths and areas of need. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.94 | assisted |
| Administer standardized ability and achievement tests to elementary students with special needs. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.59 | assisted |
| Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health. | 22.2% | 27.8% | 50.0% | 4.55 | assisted |
| Instruct students with disabilities in academic subjects, using a variety of techniques, such as phonetics, multisensory learning, or repetition to reinforce learning and meet students' varying needs. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.92 | assisted |
| Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.77 | assisted |
| Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.57 | assisted |
| Monitor teachers or teacher assistants to ensure adherence to special education program requirements. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.50 | untouched |
| Encourage students to explore learning opportunities or persevere with challenging tasks to prepare them for later grades. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.55 | untouched |
| Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.72 | untouched |
| Meet with parents or guardians to discuss their children's progress, advise them on using community resources, or teach skills for dealing with students' impairments. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.51 | untouched |
| Teach students personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, or self-advocacy. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.49 | untouched |
| Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, or food preparation. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.19 | untouched |
| Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, or assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.66 | untouched |
| Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.69 | untouched |
| Organize and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their perceptual skills. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to maintain or improve professional competence. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.04 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.16 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.74 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.63 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.98 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.08 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.38 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.