AI exposure: Special Education Teachers, Preschool
Teach academic, social, and life skills to preschool-aged 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
computedAt 26.5% of weighted task load, Special Education Teachers, Preschool sits at the 49th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 54.9% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is context. Across this occupation's 36 tasks it averages 2.01 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 and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students,..., at 86.7%. The least is Organize and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their perceptual skills, 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 57 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 36 tasks, 11 are currently banded exposed, 8 assisted and 17 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.
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 | 1.86 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.01 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 1.67 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.01 | 0-3 |
| Context | 2.01 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.31 | 0-3 |
Task by task
36 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Establish and communicate clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects to students, parents, or guardians. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.17 | exposed |
| Organize and supervise games or other recreational activities to promote physical, mental, or social development. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 4.19 | exposed |
| Prepare objectives, outlines, or other materials for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.97 | exposed |
| Present information in audio-visual or interactive formats, using computers, television, audio-visual aids, or other equipment, materials, or technologies. | 80.0% | 20.0% | 0.0% | 3.66 | exposed |
| Prepare assignments for teacher assistants or volunteers. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 3.62 | exposed |
| Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, or administrative regulations. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.74 | exposed |
| Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.44 | exposed |
| Prepare reports on students and activities as required by administration. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Plan and supervise experiential learning activities, such as class projects, field trips, or demonstrations. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.78 | exposed |
| Collaborate with other teachers or administrators to develop, evaluate, or revise preschool programs. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.01 | exposed |
| Confer with parents, administrators, testing specialists, social workers, or other professionals to develop individual education plans (IEPs). | 31.2% | 31.2% | 37.5% | 4.45 | assisted |
| Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment or materials to prevent injuries and damage. | 28.3% | 21.7% | 50.0% | 4.44 | exposed |
| Modify the general preschool curriculum for students with disabilities. | 25.0% | 50.0% | 25.0% | 4.51 | assisted |
| Administer tests to help determine children's developmental levels, needs, or potential. | 23.3% | 26.7% | 50.0% | 4.34 | assisted |
| Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health. | 22.2% | 27.8% | 50.0% | 4.48 | assisted |
| Develop or implement strategies to meet the needs of students with a variety of disabilities. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.76 | assisted |
| Develop individual educational plans (IEPs) designed to promote students' educational, physical, or social development. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.56 | assisted |
| Employ special educational strategies or techniques during instruction to improve the development of sensory- and perceptual-motor skills, language, cognition, or memory. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.32 | assisted |
| Coordinate placement of students with special needs into mainstream classes. | 20.0% | 30.0% | 50.0% | 4.07 | assisted |
| Confer with parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, or administrators to resolve students' behavioral or academic problems. | 18.8% | 18.8% | 62.5% | 4.26 | untouched |
| Control the inventory or distribution of classroom equipment, materials, or supplies. | 15.8% | 9.2% | 75.0% | 3.48 | untouched |
| Read books to entire classes or to small groups. | 15.0% | 10.0% | 75.0% | 4.45 | untouched |
| Monitor teachers or teacher assistants to ensure adherence to special education program requirements. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.39 | untouched |
| Communicate nonverbally with children to provide them with comfort, encouragement, or positive reinforcement. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.76 | untouched |
| Encourage students to explore learning opportunities or persevere with challenging tasks to prepare them for later grades. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Teach socially acceptable behavior, employing techniques such as behavior modification or positive reinforcement. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.68 | untouched |
| Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, or social skills, to preschool students with special needs. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.57 | untouched |
| Meet with parents or guardians to discuss their children's progress, advise them on using community resources, or teach skills for dealing with students' impairments. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.51 | untouched |
| Teach students personal development skills, such as goal setting, independence, or self-advocacy. | 10.0% | 15.0% | 75.0% | 4.33 | untouched |
| Provide assistive devices, supportive technology, or assistance accessing facilities, such as restrooms. | 5.0% | 20.0% | 75.0% | 4.42 | untouched |
| Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, or changing their diapers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.59 | untouched |
| Prepare classrooms with a variety of materials or resources for children to explore, manipulate, or use in learning activities or imaginative play. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.52 | untouched |
| Arrange indoor or outdoor space to facilitate creative play, motor-skill activities, or safety. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Serve meals or snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.21 | untouched |
| Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to maintain or improve professional competence. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.05 | untouched |
| Organize and display students' work in a manner appropriate for their perceptual skills. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.01 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
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.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.