Special Education Teacher

Job Summary

Special education teachers provide specialized instruction and support to students with disabilities and collaborate with students, families, general educators, related service providers, and other school personnel to promote access, participation, and progress toward educational goals. They identify accessibility barriers, contribute to team-based decisions about individualized supports, implement accommodations and assistive technology, and monitor whether those supports effectively meet student needs. Accessibility is integrated throughout instructional planning and implementation.

Job Essential Accessibility Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities related to accessibility.

• Contribute to team-based determination of appropriate accommodations, accessible formats, assistive technology, and other accessibility-related supports for individual students.
• Implement accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, and other accessibility-related supports identified through IEP, Section 504, or other applicable processes.
• Support students in using assistive technology and accessibility features during instructional activities.
• Adapt instructional materials and activities needed to implement identified accessibility-related supports for individual students.
• Monitor student use and the effectiveness of accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, and other accessibility-related supports, and contribute to team-based adjustments when they are not effectively supporting student access.
• Support students in developing independence, agency, and self-advocacy related to accessing instructional materials and technologies and using their accessibility-related supports.
• Recognize when accessibility barriers or questions about assistive technology require specialized evaluation, technical assistance, or expertise and engage appropriate personnel.
• Identify and report accessibility barriers encountered in digital materials or technologies and follow established procedures to obtain assistance or escalate barriers that cannot be resolved within the teacher’s role or expertise.

Required Qualifications

Minimum requirements to perform the job:

• Foundational knowledge of digital accessibility requirements applicable to K–12 education.
• Working knowledge of requirements and processes under IDEA and Section 504 related to accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, accessibility features, and other accessibility-related supports.
• Understanding of how students with different disabilities may experience accessibility barriers in instructional materials, technologies, activities, and learning environments.
• Demonstrated preparation or experience identifying and documenting accessibility barriers affecting individual students and contributing to team-based consideration of appropriate accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, accessibility features, and other accessibility-related supports.
• Demonstrated preparation or experience implementing and monitoring accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, accessibility features, and other accessibility-related supports for individual students.
• Demonstrated preparation or experience adapting instructional materials and activities to implement required accessibility-related supports for individual students.
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with students, families, general education teachers, related service providers, assistive technology specialists, and other relevant personnel to support student access and address accessibility barriers.

Preferred Qualifications

Nice-to-have skills or experience:

• Additional professional learning or demonstrated experience in digital accessibility, accessible instructional practices, or assistive technology.
• Experience supporting students with a range of disabilities in accessing digital and non-digital instructional materials and activities.
• Experience supporting students in using assistive technology and accessibility features during instruction.
• Experience implementing and monitoring individualized accessibility supports across general and special education environments.
• Experience adapting instructional materials or activities to address identified accessibility barriers while maintaining intended learning objectives.
• Experience collaborating with assistive technology specialists, related service providers, general education teachers, students, and families to support student access and participation.
• Experience supporting students in developing independence, agency, and self-advocacy related to accessing instructional materials and technologies and using their accessibility-related supports.

Success Signals

In this role, success looks like:

• Identifies accessibility barriers affecting individual students early and takes appropriate action to address them or engage relevant members of the educational team.
• Effectively implements accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, accessibility features, and other team-determined supports across instructional environments.
• Monitors the effectiveness of accessibility-related supports and contributes observations, student feedback, and other relevant information to team-based adjustments when needed.
• Adapts instructional materials and activities to address identified accessibility barriers and implement individualized supports while maintaining intended learning objectives.
• Supports students in effectively using accessible formats, assistive technology, accessibility features, and other supports while developing greater independence, agency, and self-advocacy.
• Collaborates with students, families, general education teachers, related service providers, assistive technology specialists, and other relevant personnel to address accessibility barriers and improve the effectiveness of supports.
• Recognizes when accessibility barriers or assistive technology needs require specialized evaluation, technical assistance, or expertise and engages appropriate personnel.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Accessibility Knowledge (WHAT / WHY)

• Understanding of disability and how accessibility barriers in instructional materials, technologies, activities, and learning environments can affect student access, participation, independence, and learning.
• Knowledge of accessibility-related requirements and processes under IDEA and Section 504, including the consideration, documentation, implementation, and monitoring of individualized supports.
• Understanding of foundational digital accessibility practices and how they apply to commonly used instructional materials and technologies.
• Knowledge of accessible formats and their role in supporting student access for eligible students.
• Understanding of the distinctions among proactively accessible materials, accessible formats, accommodations, modifications, assistive technology, and accessibility features, and how they can work together to support student access.
• Knowledge of common types of assistive technology and accessibility features and how students may use them to access and participate in instruction.
• Understanding of how student proficiency, preferences, instructional context, performance, and feedback inform the implementation and monitoring of accessibility-related supports.
• Understanding of when accessibility barriers or assistive technology needs require specialized evaluation, technical assistance, or expertise.

Applied Skills (HOW)

• Skill in identifying and documenting accessibility barriers affecting an individual student’s access to instructional materials, technologies, activities, and learning environments.
• Skill in contributing to team-based consideration of accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, and other accessibility-related supports based on individual student needs and circumstances.
• Skill in implementing accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, accessibility features, and other supports identified for individual students.
• Skill in supporting students in developing proficiency and independence in using assistive technology and accessibility features during instruction.
• Skill in adapting instructional materials and activities to address accessibility barriers and implement individualized supports while maintaining intended learning objectives.
• Skill in supporting students in identifying and communicating accessibility barriers, understanding and using their supports, and developing self-advocacy skills.
• Skill in monitoring the effectiveness of accessibility-related supports through student performance, observation, and feedback and communicating relevant information to inform team-based adjustments.
• Skill in recognizing when a student’s difficulty may reflect an accessibility barrier rather than difficulty with the academic content itself.
• Skill in recognizing when an accessibility barrier or assistive technology need requires additional evaluation, technical assistance, or specialized expertise and engaging appropriate personnel.

Collaboration & Communication

• Competence in collaborating with students, families, general education teachers, related service providers, assistive technology specialists, educational technology/IT personnel, and other members of the educational team to address accessibility barriers.
• Competence in communicating identified accessibility barriers and their impact on student access and participation to appropriate team members.
• Competence in sharing relevant information about the implementation and effectiveness of accessible formats, assistive technology, accommodations, accessibility features, and other accessibility-related supports.
• Competence in engaging students and families in conversations about accessibility barriers, student preferences and experiences, and the effectiveness of accessibility-related supports.
• Competence in communicating with students about accessibility barriers and supports in ways that promote agency, independence, and self-advocacy.
• Competence in supporting general education teachers and other instructional personnel in understanding and implementing accessibility-related supports identified for individual students.
• Competence in seeking specialized evaluation, technical assistance, or expertise when accessibility barriers or assistive technology needs fall outside the special education teacher’s role or expertise.

Interview Questions

Behavioral Questions

• Describe a time when you identified an accessibility barrier affecting a student with a disability. How did you identify the barrier, and what did you do next?
• Tell us about a time when an accommodation, accessible format, assistive technology, or other support was not working effectively for a student. What did you observe, and how did you determine there was a problem? What did you do next?
• Share an example of collaborating with other educators or specialists to address an accessibility barrier or support a student’s access to instruction. What did you contribute to the process, and how did the collaboration affect the outcome?
• Give an example of how you helped a student become more independent in using or advocating for an accessible format, assistive technology, accessibility feature, or other support. What did you do, and how did the student’s role change over time?
• Describe a time when feedback from a student with a disability or their family changed how you implemented an accessibility-related support. What did you learn, and what did you change?

Technical Questions

• How would you distinguish between an accessibility barrier in an instructional material, technology, or activity and a need for an individualized support or accommodation? When might both need to be addressed?
• What information would you consider when determining whether an accessible format, accommodation, assistive technology, or other support is effectively supporting a student’s access and participation?
• A student has assistive technology but is having difficulty using it to access instructional materials. How would you identify the source of the difficulty and determine whether additional expertise is needed?
• How would you determine whether a student’s difficulty with an instructional activity results from an accessibility barrier or difficulty with the academic content? Why is this distinction important?
• How would you adapt an instructional material or activity to address an accessibility barrier while preserving the intended learning objective?
• A general education teacher is having difficulty consistently implementing an accessibility-related support identified for a student. How would you work with the teacher and educational team to understand and address the problem?

Learning and Development

To prepare for this role, individuals should:

• Develop a foundational understanding of the legal issues related to the accessibility of educational materials in K–12 education. Refer to NCADEMI’s Legal Foundations page.
• Build an understanding of how accessible design can be incorporated into instructional practices. Explore Teach Access’ self-paced course on disability and accessible design.
• Build practical skills for creating, adapting, and independently selecting accessible supplemental digital instructional materials. Enroll in NCADEMI’s Accessibility Fundamentals Course on Canvas.
• Build practical skills using accessibility features and basic evaluation tools available in commonly used instructional technologies and authoring tools.
• Develop an understanding of how students with disabilities experience and interact with digital instructional materials and technologies. Refer to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Video Series covering a variety of topics on digital access in education, including how people with disabilities use technology, applicable federal regulations, and identifying and remediating barriers to access.
• Develop skills for implementing and monitoring individualized accessibility-related supports. Refer to NCADEMI’s resources for IEP teams.
• Practice the four steps of providing accessible formats as an accommodation. Refer to the OCALI AT&AEM Center’s module, Navigating Accessible Educational Materials (AEM): Accessible Formats.

Reminder

Use this toolkit to incorporate accessibility-focused knowledge, skills, and sample pre-screening and interview questions into your job descriptions and hiring process.