Paraprofessional: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
Paraprofessionals assist a preschool, elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher with instructional duties. The most commonly reported education requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent (27% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Preparation
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- medium preparation
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
- 27% of workers
Data Government data groups this job as Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education (O*NET-SOC 25-9042.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
Every page for Paraprofessionals
Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.
Open →How to becomeParaprofessional how to becomeEducation, training and the skills to build first.
Open →ResumeParaprofessional resumeKeywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.
Open →Interview questionsParaprofessional interview questionsQuestions with what they test, plus practice mode.
Open →Free toolCheck your resumeParsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.
Open →What paraprofessionals do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips.
- Tutor and assist children individually or in small groups to help them master assignments and to reinforce learning concepts presented by teachers.
- Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
- Teach social skills to students.
- Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
- Discuss assigned duties with classroom teachers to coordinate instructional efforts.
- Present subject matter to students under the direction and guidance of teachers, using lectures, discussions, supervised role-playing methods, or by reading aloud.
- Observe students' performance, and record relevant data to assess progress.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Customer and Personal Service, English Language, Psychology, Mathematics, Education and Training, Public Safety and Security.
Software paraprofessionals use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- AppletreeComputer based training software
- Children's educational softwareComputer based training software
- ClassDojoDesktop communications software
- FlipgridVideo creation and editing software
- Hand held spell checkersSpell checkers
- Kahoot!Multi-media educational software
- LoomVideo creation and editing software
- PadletComputer based training software
- ParentSquareDesktop communications software
- QuizletComputer based training software
- SchoologyComputer based training software
- Screen magnification softwareDevice drivers or system software
Also called: Teacher Assistant, Teaching Assistant, Classroom Aide, Educational Assistant, Instructional Assistant, Kindergarten Assistant, Paraeducator.
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.