AI exposure: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
Teach academic, social, and life skills to secondary 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
computed31.0% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Special Education Teachers, Secondary School at the 55th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.0 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 40 tasks it averages 2.10 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 clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those..., at 86.7%. The least is Perform administrative duties, 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 53 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 40 tasks, 15 are currently banded exposed, 9 assisted and 16 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
40 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.44 | exposed |
| Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.11 | exposed |
| Plan and 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% | 4.04 | exposed |
| Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.02 | exposed |
| Prepare for assigned classes, and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors. | 76.7% | 23.3% | 0.0% | 3.74 | exposed |
| Maintain accurate and complete student records, and prepare reports on children and activities, as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations. | 58.3% | 29.2% | 12.5% | 4.55 | exposed |
| Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.62 | exposed |
| Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guest speakers, or other experiential activities, and guide students in learning from those activities. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.22 | exposed |
| Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.16 | exposed |
| Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of secondary school programs. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 3.86 | exposed |
| Guide and counsel students with adjustments, academic problems, or special academic interests. | 40.0% | 35.0% | 25.0% | 4.11 | exposed |
| Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress. | 38.5% | 28.1% | 33.3% | 3.88 | exposed |
| Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual educational plans (IEPs) for students' educational, physical, and social development. | 31.2% | 31.2% | 37.5% | 4.52 | assisted |
| Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.15 | exposed |
| Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies. | 28.7% | 13.0% | 58.3% | 2.84 | untouched |
| Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage. | 28.3% | 21.7% | 50.0% | 3.63 | exposed |
| Visit schools to tutor students with sensory impairments and to consult with teachers regarding students' special needs. | 26.7% | 23.3% | 50.0% | 2.83 | exposed |
| Modify the general education curriculum for students with disabilities, based upon a variety of instructional techniques and technologies. | 25.0% | 50.0% | 25.0% | 4.18 | assisted |
| Provide interpretation and transcription of regular classroom materials through Braille and sign language. | 25.0% | 50.0% | 25.0% | 3.48 | assisted |
| Administer standardized ability and achievement tests, and interpret results to determine students' strengths and needs. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 3.76 | assisted |
| Sponsor extracurricular activities, such as clubs, student organizations, and academic contests. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 2.93 | assisted |
| Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health. | 22.2% | 27.8% | 50.0% | 4.18 | assisted |
| Employ special educational strategies and techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, and memory. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.46 | assisted |
| Develop and implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of handicapping conditions. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.29 | assisted |
| Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.12 | assisted |
| Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems. | 18.8% | 18.8% | 62.5% | 4.31 | untouched |
| Monitor teachers and teacher assistants to ensure that they adhere to inclusive special education program requirements. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.11 | untouched |
| Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.95 | untouched |
| Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification and positive reinforcement. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.35 | untouched |
| Teach personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, and self-advocacy. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and to determine priorities for their children and their resource needs. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, and food preparation. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.81 | untouched |
| Meet with parents and guardians to provide guidance in using community resources and to teach skills for dealing with students' impairments. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.55 | untouched |
| Provide additional instruction in vocational areas. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 3.84 | untouched |
| Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.00 | untouched |
| Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.38 | untouched |
| Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.49 | untouched |
| Attend staff meetings and serve on committees, as required. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.32 | untouched |
| Perform administrative duties, such as school library assistance, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.08 | 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 | 2.02 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 0.83 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.80 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.02 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.10 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.35 | 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.