Teacher Aides
Overview
Introduction
Teacher aides perform a wide variety of duties to help teachers run a classroom. They prepare instructional materials, help students with classroom work, and supervise students in the library, on the playground, and at lunch. They perform administrative duties such as photocopying, keeping attendance records, and grading papers. There are nearly 1.4 million teacher aides employed in the United States. Teacher aides are also known as teacher assistants, instructional aides, paraprofessionals, and paraed...
Quick Facts
Median Salary
Employment Prospects
Minimum Education Level
Experience
Skills
Personality Traits
Earnings
Teacher aides are usually paid on an hourly basis and usually only during the nine or 10 months of the school calendar. Salaries vary depending on the school or district, region of the country, and the duties the aides perform. Median annual earnings of teacher assistants in May 2019 were $27,920, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Salaries ranged from less than $18,940 to more than $43...
Work Environment
Teacher aides work in a well-lit, comfortable, wheelchair-accessible environment, although some older school buildings may be in disrepair with unpredictable heating or cooling systems. Most of their work will be indoors, but teacher aides spend some time outside before and after school, and during recess and lunch hours, to watch over the students. They are often on their feet, monitoring the ...
Outlook
The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that this field will grow by 4 percent through 2029, which is about as fast as the average for all occupations. In 2020, the education field has been deeply affected by the coronavirus pandemic. School closures have varied across the country, with some schools having only remote learning and others having a hybrid of in-class and remote learning. Many educa...