How To Become A Para Educator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a para educator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Christian Wilkens Ph.D.

Paraeducators work under school employees to provide additional direction and instruction to special needs students and their families. They assist in specialist classrooms like the library, the computer lab, or a physical education class. The Educator attends to the needs of the students, including physical, personal, academic, and emotional needs. Also, they organize and monitor the classroom during classes to prevent distractions. Paraeducators assist with assembling relevant teaching materials such as bulletin boards, textbooks, visual aids, and activity sheets.

Candidates must have a bachelor's degree in early childhood development or any education-related field. They must also have experience working with children and special needs students. Not just this, but they must be familiar with teaching methods and educational software. Also, they must possess previous teac hing experience. Successful paraeducators have communication, collaboration, bilingual and interpersonal skills. This personnel earns an average salary of $31,016 yearly. It ranges from $23,000 to $43,000.

What's a day at work look like for a Para Educator?

Dr. Christian Wilkens Ph.D.

Chair, SUNY Brockport

Right now (still in the middle of the pandemic), teachers are going to work in schools that are either fully remote (hence, they're teaching from home using a variety of digital tools), hybrid (rotating smaller groups of students, sometimes synchronous live in school and remote to students at home), or in-person with spacing, sanitization, and PPE requirements in place. Preparation for teaching often takes longer because teachers must get ready for two approaches for every lesson (remote and face to face)... so teachers are putting in incredibly long hours. At the same time, the work they do has never been more important. Many families and students are struggling with isolation, economic insecurity, etc. Teachers may be the only non-family adults a student sees regularly - and can be the ones who notice and uplift.

ScorePara EducatorUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,394

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.5

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.40%

Asian 8.65%

Black or African American 5.71%

Hispanic or Latino 18.25%

Unknown 4.64%

White 61.36%

Gender

female 79.58%

male 20.42%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress Level

4.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

3.7

Complexity Level is basic

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

10.0

Work Life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a para educator

Explore para educator education requirements

Most common para educator degrees

Bachelor's

50.9 %

Associate

24.9 %

High School Diploma

11.1 %

Start to develop specific para educator skills

Skills	Percentages
Behavioral Issues	9.64%
Student Performance	8.48%
IEP	8.00%
Math	7.43%
Kindergarten	6.53%

Gain additional para educator certifications

Para educator certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific para educator certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for para educators include Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) and Medical Assistant.

More About Certifications

Research para educator duties and responsibilities

Perform responsible human support and paraprofessional work assisting classroom teacher or other professionals, achieve institution objectives.
Work daily with a small group of 4th grade students in language arts in the morning and mathematics in the afternoon.
Plan and implement lesson and in a k-5 school.
Assist teacher in every aspect of curriculum, CPR certify.

Prepare your para educator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your para educator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a para educator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Para Educator Resume templates

Build a professional Para Educator resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Para Educator resume.

Apply for para educator jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a para educator job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do para educators rate their job?

-/5

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Para Educator reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2024

Pros

Helping students with various intellectual or behavior disabilities to be successful in the classroom and in life.

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2023

Cons

No support from administration, supervisor, no union representative in house at schools to support job issues and concerns .

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2022