Teaching Assistants, Special Education
Assist a preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher to provide academic, social, or life skills to students who have learning, emotional, or physical disabilities. Serve in a position for which a teacher has primary responsibility for the design and implementation of educational programs and services.
$36,780 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
of the working time. Estimate.
- 5%
- 7%
- 88%
Anthropic's data does not cover this job.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 5%. Today's estimate: 5%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 30 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provide assistance to students with special needs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 16% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 38 min17 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement.Done daily by most who do it. | 10% | 38 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Carry out therapeutic regimens, such as behavior modification and personal development programs, under the supervision of special education instructors, psychologists, or speech-language pathologists.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 50 min17 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Instruct students in daily living skills required for independent maintenance and self-sufficiency, such as hygiene, safety, or food preparation.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Organize and supervise games and other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, and social development.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Provide students with disabilities with assistive devices, supportive technology, and assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 33 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.Done daily by most who do it. | 4% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Tutor and assist children individually or in small groups to help them master assignments and to reinforce learning concepts presented by teachers.Done daily by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 38 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Present subject matter to students under the direction and guidance of teachers, using lectures, discussions, supervised role-playing methods, or by reading aloud.Done daily by most who do it. | 3% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten19% now, 23% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Secondary School22% now, 31% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Elementary School27% now, 36% by 2028
- Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education6% now, 6% by 2028
- Special Education Teachers, Middle School20% now, 32% by 2028
- Instructional Coordinators17% now, 81% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.