As an elementary school principal for 11 years, I hired many teachers. I also witnessed how the district and fellow administrators went about hiring their teachers.

I have some tips for how to get a job as a Special Education Teacher.

Tip 1 – Excel at Student Teaching

This is my number one recommendation for landing a job as a special education teacher, because administrators want teachers who have demonstrated the ability to teach. If you don’t do well in student teaching and related field experiences, you stand a very low chance of being hired.

Administrators want teachers who know how to do two things:
1. Manage the classroom, meaning very few discipline referrals
2. Teach the children using best practice teaching strategies
3. Work as a team player, bringing good work habits, collaboration and knowledge to the table

Tip 2 – Get great recommendations

You need recommendations from at least two cooperating teachers (the most important), one college professor, and an employer that you’ve had for at least six months. Job experience is important, particularly job experience in the area of working with children and particularly working with children who have special needs.

A good tip for getting good recommendations is to hand the recommender a copy of your current resume, highlighting special skills and job experience. When writing a recommendation, I appreciated this, because as a teacher and an elementary school administrator, time was of the essence.

Tip 3 – Create an attention-getting, but easy to skim, cover letter and resume and deliver it in person if possible.

Administrators do not want pages of text to read or a big folder of materials. Submit a one page cover letter, an easy to skim one page resume highlighting special skills and job experience, and three letters of recommendation. » Read more: 10 Tips for How to Land a Job As a Special Education Teacher