Special Education Director Resume Example & Writing Guide
Use this Special Education Director resume example and guide to improve your career and write a powerful resume that will separate you from the competition.
Special education is a highly specialized field, covering a range of disabilities and learning needs. If you have a passion for helping children succeed in school and feel driven to make a difference in their lives, you might be ready to take on the role of special education director.
Special education directors are responsible for implementing district-wide special education policies and procedures, overseeing the delivery of services to students with special needs, and ensuring that all students receive the support they need to thrive in school. They also play a key role in helping teachers integrate special education students into the general education classroom and coordinate efforts between special education teachers and other members of the school community.
To land your dream special education director position, you’ll need a resume that effectively communicates your unique set of skills and experience. Here are resume tips plus an example to help you write yours.
How to Write a Special Education Director Resume
Here’s how to write a resume of your own.
Write Compelling Bullet Points
When you’re writing bullet points, it can be tempting to simply list your responsibilities. But that’s not enough to make a strong impression. Instead, you should use your bullet points to demonstrate your value by including specific examples of your work.
For example, rather than saying you “managed special education department,” you could say that you “increased graduation rate for special education students by 15% in first year through targeted interventions and increased teacher training.”
The second bullet point paints a much clearer picture of what you did and the results of your work. And it provides a specific number to demonstrate the impact of your work.
Identify and Include Relevant Keywords
When you submit your resume to a special education director, it’s likely that it will be scanned by an applicant tracking system (ATS) for certain keywords. This system will search for terms related to the job, like “special needs” and “disabilities,” in order to determine whether your skills and experience are a match for the job opening. If your resume doesn’t include enough of the right terms, your application might not make it past the initial screening process.
One way to make sure your resume includes enough relevant keywords is to read through the job posting and take note of the skills and experience they are looking for. Then, use those same terms throughout your resume. Here are some examples:
- Special Education
- Educational Leadership
- Teacher Training
- Curriculum Development
- Classroom Management
- Staff Development
- Educational Technology
- Differentiated Instruction
- K-12 Education
- Elementary Education
- Teaching
- Integration
- Higher Education
- Learning Management Systems
- Teacher Training Assistance
- Educational Consulting
- Community Outreach
- Staffing Services
- Literacy
- SESAME
- Speech Therapy
- Special Education Teaching
- Behavior Management
- Differential Reinforcement
- Lesson Planning
- Education
- Early Childhood Education
- Neurodevelopmental Disabilities
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Nonprofit Organizations
Showcase Your Technical Skills
As a special education director, you need to be proficient in a variety of software programs and systems in order to effectively manage your team and the resources at your disposal. This might include experience with special education databases, case management software, or student information systems. Additionally, many special education directors are now using social media platforms to communicate with parents and guardians, so familiarity with these platforms is also a plus.