Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many other special education & teaching graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	554
Bachelor’s Degree	404
Graduate Certificate	237
Basic Certificate	53
Undergraduate Certificate	40
Doctor’s Degree	6
Associate Degree	2

What Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, other special ed majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Other Special Ed Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.

Skills for Other Special Ed Majors

A major in other special ed prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Other Special Ed Majors

A major in other special ed will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Can You Do With a Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with other special ed:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Adapted Physical Education Specialists	9.9%	$56,680

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

This major is dominated by women with about 90% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of other special ed majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	2
Black or African American	17
Hispanic or Latino	31
White	326
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	28

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Other Special Ed majors often go into careers with median salaries of $62,500. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some careers associated with other special ed require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to other special ed have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Bachelor’s Degree	47.2%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	22.0%
Master’s Degree	28.3%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	3.1%

Online Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	2	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	3	1
Bachelor’s Degree	37	11
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	61	11
Post-Master’s	9	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	3	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	1	1

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a other special ed grad is $62,500 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 57% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $452,000 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to other special ed.

Major	Number of Grads
General Special Education	23,838
Education/Teaching of Individuals in Early Childhood Special Education Programs	3,451
Elementary Special Education	1,665
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Multiple Disabilities	1,514
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Autism	1,265
Education/Teaching of Individuals in Secondary Special Education Programs	562
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Specific Learning Disabilities	525
Education/Teaching of the Gifted & Talented	470
Education of the Deaf	337
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Speech or Language Impairments	273
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Vision Impairments Including Blindness	204
Education/Teaching of Individuals Who are Developmentally Delayed	146
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Emotional Disturbances	127
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities	123
Education/Teaching of Individuals in Junior High/Middle School Special Education Programs	105
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Orthopedic & Other Physical Health Impairments	40
Education/Teaching of Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injuries	32

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By woodleywonderworks under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.