Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education

Education and TrainingO*NET 25-2012.00United States

Teach academic and social skills to kindergarten students.

COMING SOON See related ASU learning
Median annual earnings
$62,618

50th percentile, United States

Projected change
+2%

2025 to 2035

Typical education
Bachelor's degree

86.2% of the workforce

Employment
109.45K jobs

Growing to 111.62K by 2035

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Build the skills

ASU learning related to this career

These courses and certificates are connected through catalog career relationships and Lightcast skill tags.

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The work

What kindergarten teachers, except special education do

Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.

  • Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
  • Prepare children for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
  • Instruct students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students' varying needs and interests.
  • Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
  • Demonstrate activities to children.
  • Observe and evaluate children's performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
  • Read books to entire classes or to small groups.
  • Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or special academic interests.
  • Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
  • Prepare and implement remedial programs for students requiring extra help.
  • Identify children showing signs of emotional, developmental, or health-related problems and discuss them with supervisors, parents or guardians, and child development specialists.
  • Maintain accurate and complete student records and prepare reports on children and activities as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
  • Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
  • Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects and communicate those objectives to children.
  • Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
  • Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and to determine their priorities for their children and their resource needs.
  • Organize and lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, and storytelling.
  • Meet with other professionals to discuss individual students' needs and progress.
  • Use computers, audio-visual aids, and other equipment and materials to supplement presentations.
  • Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
  • Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.
  • Assimilate arriving children to the school environment by greeting them, helping them remove outerwear, and selecting activities of interest to them.
  • Collaborate with other teachers and administrators in the development, evaluation, and revision of kindergarten programs.
  • Prepare materials, classrooms, and other indoor and outdoor spaces to facilitate creative play, learning and motor-skill activities, and safety.
  • Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate children's progress.
  • Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.
  • Organize and label materials and display children's work in a manner appropriate for their sizes and perceptual skills.
  • Prepare for assigned classes and show written evidence of preparation upon request of immediate supervisors.
  • Plan and supervise class projects, field trips, visits by guests, or other experiential activities and guide students in learning from those activities.
  • Supervise, evaluate, and plan assignments for teacher assistants and volunteers.
  • Involve parent volunteers and older students in children's activities to facilitate involvement in focused, complex play.
  • Administer standardized ability and achievement tests and interpret results to determine children's developmental levels and needs.
  • Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, and teacher training workshops to maintain and improve professional competence.
  • Attend staff meetings and serve on committees as required.
  • Select, store, order, issue, and inventory classroom equipment, materials, and supplies.
  • Perform administrative duties, such as assisting in school libraries, hall and cafeteria monitoring, and bus loading and unloading.

Pay and outlook

What the job pays and where it is heading

Annual earnings range

Reported earnings by percentile, United States

10th percentile
$46,878
25th percentile
$52,094
50th percentile
$62,618
75th percentile
$79,883
90th percentile
$101,897

The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $62,618 and half earn less.

Employment outlook

2025 to 2035 projection

+2%average or slower
2025109,445 jobs
2035 projected111,617 jobs

2,172 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.

Preparation

Education levels

What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.

Bachelor's degree
86.2%
Master's or Professional degree
13.8%

Skills

Skills employers ask for

Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.

  • Lesson Planning
  • Classroom Management
  • Curriculum Development
  • Learning Styles
  • Special Education
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Individualized Education Programs (IEP)
  • Differentiated Instruction
  • Child Development
  • Instructional Strategies
  • Educational Assessment
  • Primary Education
  • Parent Communication
  • Preschool Education
  • Behavior Management
  • Effective Communication
  • Learning Strategies
  • Student Engagement
  • Organizational Communications
  • Social Studies

How the work gets done

Core competencies

Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.

Social Perceptiveness
Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Instructing
Teaching others how to do something.
Monitoring
Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Learning Strategies
Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Coordination
Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Time Management
Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Service Orientation
Actively looking for ways to help people.
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Writing
Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Persuasion
Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
Active Learning
Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Negotiation
Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
Systems Evaluation
Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
Management of Personnel Resources
Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Systems Analysis
Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.

In the market

Job titles and employers

Recent job postings in United States

Common job titles

  1. 01Kindergarten Teachers3,945 postings
  2. 02Pre-Kindergarten Teachers1,478 postings
  3. 03Kindergarten/Elementary Teachers1,017 postings
  4. 04Long Term Substitute Kindergarten Teachers347 postings
  5. 05Transitional Kindergarten Teachers323 postings
  6. 06Preschool/Kindergarten Teachers252 postings
  7. 07Prekindergarten Teachers191 postings
  8. 08Bilingual Kindergarten Teachers114 postings
  9. 09Classroom Teachers96 postings
  10. 10Pre-Kindergarten Lead Teachers89 postings
  11. 11Dual Language Kindergarten Teachers88 postings
  12. 12Kindergarten Prep Teachers81 postings
  13. 13Kindergarten/1st Grade Teachers79 postings
  14. 14Kindergarten Lead Teachers39 postings
  15. 15Elementary School Teachers37 postings
  16. 16Elementary Classroom Teachers34 postings
  17. 17Leave Replacement Teachers18 postings
  18. 18Kindergarten English Teachers17 postings
  19. 19Kindergarten Special Education Teachers13 postings
  20. 20Enrichment Teachers12 postings

Top employers

  1. 01Edjoin.Org365 postings
  2. 02Charter Schools USA86 postings
  3. 03Bright Horizons70 postings
  4. 04Clark County School District64 postings
  5. 05Wake County Public Schools56 postings
  6. 06State Of West Virginia45 postings
  7. 07Montgomery County Public Schools42 postings
  8. 08Jefferson County Public Schools41 postings
  9. 09Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools41 postings
  10. 10Denver Public Schools38 postings
  11. 11Healthy Kids Programs38 postings
  12. 12IDEA Public Schools37 postings
  13. 13Mesquite Isd35 postings
  14. 14Alabama Department Of Education30 postings
  15. 15National Heritage Academies30 postings
  16. 16Accel Schools26 postings
  17. 17Basis Educational Group20 postings
  18. 18Broward County Public Schools20 postings
  19. 19Academies Of Math And Science19 postings
  20. 20Amergis18 postings

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