Middle School Special Education Teacher Career Assessment

2What is a Middle School Special Education Teacher?

A middle school special education teacher carries a caseload of students across several grades, and the day is built around a class schedule instead of one room. You teach small-group reading and math to students who are years behind. You co-teach in general education science, social studies, and English so students can stay with their class. You run a study skills or resource period where the real curriculum is organization, homework systems, and how to ask a teacher for help. You write and manage every IEP on your caseload. And you start handing the work over: this is the age when students begin sitting in their own IEP meetings, learning the name of their own disability, and learning to say out loud what they need. That skill — self-advocacy — is one of the most valuable things you will ever teach, and middle school is where it starts.

The Reality: Say this part out loud: middle school is when students start refusing help in front of other people. A twelve year old will fail a test rather than be seen walking into the resource room. That is not laziness and it is not defiance, it is a reasonable response to how middle school works, and it changes how you have to teach. You will spend real energy making support invisible, or at least normal. On top of that sit the same pressures as every other special education job — the IEP paperwork that is a legal second job, caseload size, and due process. Behavior also gets bigger at this age, because the students are bigger.

Your Responsibilities:

• Teach small-group reading, math, and writing to students who are years behind
• Co-teach in general education science, social studies, and English classes
• Run a resource or study skills period on organization, homework, and self-advocacy
• Write and manage every IEP on your caseload and run every meeting
• Teach students to sit in their own IEP meetings and say what they need
• Make sure accommodations actually happen across six or seven different teachers
• Handle behavior plans and the social fallout that comes with this age
• Track data and report progress to families on a schedule you cannot slip

You teach a student to say what they need out loud, which is the skill that outlasts you.

3A Day in the Life

7:30 AM — In early. Check grades across your whole caseload, flag three students sliding into failing, and email their teachers before first period.

8:10 AM — Co-teach seventh grade science. You reword the lab directions, sit with two students, and keep it quiet enough that nobody notices you are there for them.

9:05 AM — Small-group reading, five students, fourth grade level in seventh grade. Real phonics and real fluency work, and you never once call it baby work.

10:00 AM — Resource period. Planners, missing assignments, and a five-minute lesson on how to email a teacher and ask for a retake.

11:00 AM — Hallway. A student is crying because of something said at lunch. You handle the human thing first and the math worksheet second.

11:45 AM — Lunch duty, eaten standing. You watch who is sitting alone, because that matters more than it sounds.

1:00 PM — IEP meeting. The student is in the room this time. You coached her for a week on what to say, and she says it.

3:15 PM — Buses go. Paperwork, data, a call home about a good day for once, and planning tomorrow’s groups.

You run on the bell schedule, in and out of other teachers’ rooms, and the paperwork waits until the building empties.

4Training in North Dakota

A four-year degree, a North Dakota teaching license, and a special education endorsement. You need a bachelor’s degree from an approved teacher preparation program and a North Dakota license from the Education Standards and Practices Board, usually called ESPB, plus a special education endorsement on top. The Strategist endorsement is the common one, because it combines Specific Learning Disabilities, Emotional Disabilities, and Intellectual Disabilities, and a middle school caseload will have all three. ESPB’s Strategist form says the endorsement covers early childhood, elementary, middle, or secondary.

Training Pathways:

• Straight through a four-year degree (4 years): Major in special education, or double major in special education and either elementary education (the ND elementary license covers grades 1 through 8, so it reaches middle school) or a middle-level content area. Minot State, Mayville State, and the University of Mary all offer a special education bachelor’s, and Mayville State’s online B.S.Ed. can be doubled with Elementary or Secondary Education.
• Start as a paraeducator and finish the degree while you work (this is the realistic entry point): Districts hire special education paraprofessionals without a degree; DPI issues the Special Education Paraprofessional Certificate of Completion after twenty contact hours of inservice training within one calendar year of employment. Minot State runs a Paraprofessional-to-Teacher pathway — an online Special Education B.S.Ed. built so you keep the job and finish the degree.
• Already teaching, or already hold a bachelor’s: A licensed teacher can add special education through the Strategist endorsement (Valley City State’s is 37 credits) and can be in the room now under an ESPB Plan on File while finishing. If your degree is in something else, Minot State’s online MAT in Special Education is 38 to 39 credits and leads to initial licensure, and UND’s online M.Ed. is 30-plus credits with ten specializations.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

• Minot State University (Minot) — Special Education, B.S.Ed., major, minor, or concentration, 120 credits, about four years, for grades PreK through 12, with an on-campus track and an online Paraprofessional-to-Teacher pathway for working paraprofessionals — minotstateu.edu/enroll/programs/special-education.shtml
• Mayville State University (Mayville) — Special Education, B.S.Ed., completely online, multicategorical, and available as a double major with Elementary Education or Secondary Education. A fast-track option with 8-week and 16-week courses lets some students finish in as little as 2.5 years — mayvillestate.edu/msu-online/programs/bsed-special-education
• University of Mary (Bismarck) — Special Education, B.S., major or minor on campus, plus a Bachelor of Science in Special Education through University of Mary Online. The University of Mary says the program is fully accredited by the North Dakota Education Standards and Practices Board and meets all CAEP national standards — umary.edu/academics/undergraduate-programs/special-education
• Valley City State University (Valley City) — Strategist Special Education Endorsement, 37 credits across 13 courses, including assessment, behavior modification, methods for LD, ED, and ID, SPED 380 Collaboration, Consultation, and Transition Planning, and a 5-credit Special Education Student Teaching. An education degree is required first — catalog.vcsu.edu/undergraduate-catalog/programs/endorsements/strategists-pecial-education
• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — M.Ed. in Special Education, 30-plus credits, 100% online and asynchronous, with ten specializations including Emotional Behavioral Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Intellectual Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Behavior Intervention Specialist, and Applied Behavior Analysis. UND states it is an approved teacher certification program for North Dakota — und.edu/programs/special-education-med
• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — undergraduate Special Education Certificate, 12 credits, 100% online, one to two semesters, high school diploma to apply; not a teaching license on its own — und.edu/programs/special-education-undergraduate-certificate
• Minot State University (Minot) — Master of Arts in Teaching, Special Education, 38 to 39 credits, fully online, ESPB and CAEP approved, leading to initial licensure, with a General Special Education concentration — minotstateu.edu/graduate/future_students/programs/teaching-special-education.shtml
• Minot State University (Minot) — Master of Science in Special Education, online, with a Special Education Strategist emphasis (33 to 35 credits), a Specific Learning Disabilities emphasis, and a Behavior Specialist concentration (12 credits) covering classroom management and positive behavior support, behavior assessment and measurement, and behavior ethics, supervision, and consultation — catalog.minotstateu.edu/graduate/programs-of-study/ms-special-education
• Mayville State University (Mayville) — Graduate Certificate in Special Education, 15 credits, online and asynchronous in 8-week sessions, covering special education basics, intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbances, learning disabilities, and special education law and ethics, and applicable toward an endorsement and toward the M.Ed. — mayvillestate.edu/msu-online/programs/graduate-certificate-special-education
• University of Mary Online (Bismarck) — M.Ed. in Special Education and M.Ed. in Special Education Strategist — online.umary.edu/academics
• Turtle Mountain College (Belcourt) — Elementary Education, B.S., and a Master of Education. The ND elementary license reaches grade 8, so this is a real road into middle school, with the special education endorsement added after — tm.edu/academics
• United Tribes Technical College (Bismarck) — Elementary Education, A.S. and B.S. — ted.uttc.edu/degrees
• North Dakota DPI Educator Pathway Program — the paraprofessional coursework route: Valley City State EDUC 250 plus EDUC 240 (or EDUC 251, EDUC 252, and EDUC 240), Minot State SPED 110 plus SPED 299, or Mayville State SPED 289 plus SPED 289A — nd.gov/dpi/educators/credentials-and-certificates/paraprofessional-certificates

Before You Start: A high school diploma or GED to start the degree. Strong writing, because IEPs and evaluations are legal documents. You need to be able to teach elementary-level reading and math to students who are in middle school, without ever making it feel like elementary school — that is a real skill and programs teach it. Teacher preparation programs have a GPA gate partway through; UND asks for at least 2.75. A fingerprint background check is required before licensure or placement.

Tip: Start with financial aid and scholarships. Fill out the FAFSA, ask the school’s financial aid office what you qualify for, and ask an employer whether they help pay for school. That is where the money starts. After that, a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota may be able to help with what is left over, like tuition, books, a laptop, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you enroll rather than after. Worth asking about specifically: two-year degrees that train you for a job, like civil engineering technology, land surveying, mechatronics, electronics, or instrumentation. North Dakota two-year colleges also cost far less than a university. Ask about paid summer internships too — engineering firms, plants, and survey crews hire students while they are still in school.

5Certification & Licensing

North Dakota licenses you personally, through the Education Standards and Practices Board. ESPB issues the teaching license and the special education endorsements: Specific Learning Disabilities (LD), Emotional Disabilities (ED), Intellectual Disabilities (ID), the Strategist endorsement combining all three, and separate areas in hearing impairment, visual impairment, early childhood special education, and gifted and talented. For a middle school caseload, Strategist is usually the right one.

How You Get and Keep the Credential in North Dakota:

• Initial In-State License (two years) — issued to first-time applicants who have met all ND requirements: a bachelor’s degree from an approved teacher education program, the required Praxis tests, and a background check (nd.gov/espb)
• First Five-Year License — granted after 18 months full-time equivalent of successful teaching in North Dakota, then renewed every five years (nd.gov/espb)
• Strategist Special Education Endorsement — ESPB’s form calls for 30 semester hours of transcripted core coursework, primarily at the graduate level, plus enrollment in two more strategist courses, and three separate practicum or internship experiences: one in specific learning disabilities, one in intellectual disabilities, and one in emotional disturbance. It covers early childhood, elementary, middle, or secondary, and must be finished within three years of being assigned to teach strategist special education, with transcripts reviewed yearly (nd.gov/espb, SFN-58901)
• Single-area endorsements ($80 each) — LD, ED, or ID alone, added through your ND Teach account (nd.gov/espb)
• Six options to special education licensure — ESPB publishes a sheet with six roads: (1) pass a special education Praxis test, then apply for the Major Equivalency Endorsement; (2) a Plan on File; (3) teach special education with a special education minor; (4) the American Board route — any bachelor’s degree, three tests in Elementary and Special Education, then the American Board License, giving licensure in both; (5) an Alternate Access License with a bachelor’s plus 30 credits of special education coursework; (6) a Special Education Minor Equivalency Endorsement, which cannot be a Plan on File (nd.gov/espb, "Six Options for Special Education Licensure")
• Plan on File — apply online with the $80 endorsement fee, transcripts showing at least 3 semester hours of special education coursework, proof of enrollment in two more special education courses that semester, and a letter from your administrator requesting the plan and naming your special education mentor. One year at a time, up to three years total (nd.gov/espb)
• Special Education Paraprofessional Certificate of Completion (ND DPI) — twenty contact hours of inservice training conducted within one calendar year of the employment where you take on the duties, applied for through NDTeach. The Special Education Technician certificate requires that you already hold the certificate of completion for special education (nd.gov/dpi, Administrative Rule 67-11-23)
• Initial Interim Substitute License (two years) — 48 semester hours of college coursework minimum. Sub in a middle school special education room before you commit (nd.gov/espb)
• Special Education Director Credential (ND DPI) — for later: a valid ND professional license, a master’s in special education or a related field, basic preparation in one special education area, nine more semester hours across more than one other area, eight semester hours in school administration (or a four-semester-hour administration internship plus two semester hours), two years of successful employment in a special education area, and written recommendations from two supervisors (nd.gov/dpi)

The Exams: North Dakota requires all three Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators tests: Reading (5713, qualifying score 156, minimum 149), Writing (5723, qualifying score 160, minimum 153), and Math (5733, qualifying score 150, minimum 143), or a composite of 466 with no single score below that test’s minimum. You also take a subject test, and ESPB’s first special education licensure option runs on passing a special education Praxis test and then applying for the Major Equivalency Endorsement. ESPB does not publish the subject test codes and cut scores on its testing page, so confirm the exact special education test and score with ESPB before you register (nd.gov/espb/licensure/testing-information).

Cost: From the ESPB fee list: initial application $30, fingerprinting $44.50, Initial In-State two-year license $85, two-year renewal $65, five-year license $140, endorsements $80 each, Alternate Access License $165, Interim Substitute License $95, transcript review $175, and a $100 late fee if a license lapses. A $5 maintenance charge is added to new applications.

Keeping It Current: ESPB renews the five-year license with at least 30 days under contract and six semester hours of continuing education. A Plan on File renews yearly, up to three years total, with new transcripts and a new administrator letter each time. Graduate credits also move you up the district pay scale, which is why summer coursework is so common here.

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota Middle School Special Education Teacher Pay (May 2025) — yearly contract pay:

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $47,350–$48,080 a year
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $57,680 a year
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $66,340–$82,930 a year

What that means: Teachers are paid on a yearly contract, not by the hour, so the numbers above are yearly pay. Your district’s salary schedule is what tells you exactly what each step and each year of experience pays. The middle North Dakota middle school special education teacher earns about $57,680 a year, against a national middle of $66,810. The ND bottom tenth is about $47,350, close to the national bottom tenth of $49,420. The gap opens at the top: the ND top tenth is about $82,930 while the national top tenth is about $102,510. Worth noticing against the elementary version of this job: the ND middle is almost identical, about $57,680 here against $57,950 there, but the top and the 75th percentile are both higher at middle school, about $66,340 against $60,670. Pay rises with years taught and with graduate credits, and ND district salary schedules are public, so look up the districts you would actually live in.

Jobs in North Dakota: About 240 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 260 (about 6% growth). Expect about 20 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 2% decline.

Outlook: Good, and again the opposite of the national picture. O*NET shows North Dakota going from about 240 middle school special education teachers in 2024 to about 260 in 2034, roughly 6% growth, with about 20 openings a year. Nationally the job is shrinking about 2%. Twenty openings a year across the whole state is not many, so be flexible about where you live, or take an elementary special education job first — in North Dakota the elementary license covers grades 1 through 8, so the line between the two is thinner than it looks. ESPB declared all content areas critical shortage teaching positions at its March 12, 2026 meeting for the 2026-2027 school year, and special education is among the hardest to fill.

Who Hires in ND: Public school districts, multi-district special education units, tribal and Bureau of Indian Education schools, and some private schools. In many small North Dakota towns the middle school grades sit inside a K-12 building, which means one special education teacher may cover a very wide grade range — ask about that in the interview.

Work Setting: A resource room plus a lot of time in other teachers’ classrooms, all of it driven by the bell schedule. School calendar with extended school year services in summer for students who need them. Lunch, hallway, and bus duty are shared with everyone else. You arrive early, stay late, and the paperwork comes home.

Physical Demands: Moderate, but different from elementary. You are walking between rooms all day and standing far more than sitting. The students are bigger now — a fourteen year old who loses control is an adult-sized problem, and districts train staff in safe physical response for that reason. Ask in the interview what behavior support the building actually has and what training you will get, and take a vague answer seriously.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 25-2053); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: Resource Room Teacher — Run small groups and manage a caseload.

Path 2: Co-Teacher — Teach beside content teachers so students stay in class.

Path 3: Self-Contained or Behavior Program Teacher — Teach students who need most of the day taught separately.

Path 4: Transition Specialist — Move up to high school and work on life after school.

Path 5: Behavior Specialist or Autism Specialist — Add coursework and support a whole district.

Path 6: Special Education Director — Add a master’s and the DPI director credential and run the program.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• You teach self-advocacy, which is the one skill that keeps working after you are gone
• Middle schoolers are funny, honest, and will tell you exactly where you stand
• You see the same students for three years and you get to know them well
• The ND top and 75th percentile are higher here than in elementary special education
• Your license is portable — special education is short everywhere
• Fewer people want this age band, which makes you more valuable, not less

What's Hard:

• Students start refusing help in front of peers, and you have to design around that
• The academic gap is wide by now, and closing it is much harder than at seven
• The paperwork is a second job with legal deadlines you cannot miss
• Bigger students means bigger behavior, and you need real training for it
• Only about 20 openings a year in ND, so you may need to move
• Burnout and turnover are high in this field, and you will watch good people leave

Be Honest: Can you like thirteen year olds — not tolerate them, like them — on a day when they are being awful? Can you teach a seventh grader to read at a fourth grade level without ever letting it feel babyish? Can you stay calm and safe when a student who is nearly your size loses control? And can you keep the writing and the deadlines airtight in a week where everything else went sideways?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your Middle School Special Education Teacher Assessment Results