Special Ed Teachers Turn to AI as Paperwork Mounts

As special education teacher shortages deepen across the country, many teachers say legally required paperwork is eating into the time they need for students. In the 2024-25 school year, 57% of special education teachers surveyed said they used AI for individu

By the time Mary Acebu walks into Riverview Middle School, the work is already waiting.

She describes coming in just 30 minutes before her students arrive. Then, when the last bell rings, she leaves. It’s a routine she says she didn’t have before — not because the classroom got easier, but because the paperwork around it didn’t stop growing.

Acebu is a special education teacher who has worked at the school for a decade. She is also part of a task force building an AI policy for her district, Mt. Diablo Unified. And like a growing number of special educators nationwide. she has started using AI to speed up some of the legally required documentation that comes with her job.

In the 2024-25 school year, 45 states reported special education teacher shortages, and staff turnover is worse in schools that largely serve low-income students, including Riverview.

For Acebu, the shortage isn’t the only weight on her shoulders. She points to layers of required paperwork layered on top of regular teaching duties — and she says that, for many special educators, it’s the time drain that fuels the feeling of being overworked.

That pressure is showing up in national survey numbers. A recent survey by the nonpartisan Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) found that 57% of special education teachers polled said they used AI to help develop individualized plans for their students in the 2024-25 school year. That figure was 39% in the previous school year.

The shift is happening even as CDT warns that AI use carries privacy, legal and ethical risks.

At the same time, research from the University of Virginia (UVA) and the University of Central Florida (UCF) has found that when AI is used appropriately, it can help special education teachers craft IEPs of equal or higher quality than when teachers produce them alone.

Acebu’s own argument for using AI is simple: more time for students.

“The more face time a student with a disability has with a teacher, that often yields better outcomes for them, both educationally, functionally — just across the board,” says Olivia Coleman, a researcher and professor at UCF who has been studying the role of AI in special education.

Acebu says those words reflect what she has seen in her classroom. She points to King, one of her eighth graders, as an example. “He was a non-reader, beginning of seventh grade. He’s reading now.”

She emphasizes that IEPs matter only when they turn into real classroom support. “That, for Acebu, is the point of IEPs — to put what’s on paper into practice for her students. She says that is only possible with intentional, hands-on work in the classroom.”

IEPs are required, and they are heavy

In Acebu’s class, students learn in different ways: some work independently, some in pairs, others with headphones on, and others using speech-to-text technology. Each child’s plan is captured in an individualized education program, or IEP.

An IEP is required by federal law for each of the over 8 million students with disabilities in the United States. Every IEP includes annual goals tailored to each student’s present needs. but Danielle Waterfield — Coleman’s research partner at UVA — stresses that they also specify “where you want them to go within the next year.”.

Coleman and Waterfield say teachers may feel bogged down by the work involved in developing IEPs, but they also recognize the document as a necessary tool for students with disabilities to get a quality education.

Acebu says the process requires more than filling out forms. “The key term is ‘individualized.’ No two kids are the same,” she says. She describes hours of meetings and a deep knowledge of complex education law and policy.

Before AI entered her workflow. Acebu says it took her around 45 minutes to develop three or four IEP goals per student. She points to a big, blue binder at least 5 inches thick that contains California’s education standards. “It used to be flipping through all those pages. ” she says. to find the right standard that matched each student’s goals.

Then came AI — and, she says, it changed what her job could look like.

Using AI — with a “human touch”

Acebu began taking courses on how to safely and effectively use AI a couple of years ago. Around the same time, her district, Mt. Diablo Unified, entered agreements with companies offering education-focused AI tools, including MagicSchool AI and Google. The companies promise to protect sensitive student data — a primary concern for people who warn about the risks of using AI in schools.

A growing number of districts are adopting such products, though only a few states have official AI education policies.

Acebu says she uses a district-vetted tool to customize chatbots for her school. She also trained them on state standards, assessments and other special education data. She now uses her “little assistants” for tasks that range from creating personalized worksheets to developing IEP goals.

Still, she frames AI as a draft that must be owned by the teacher. “You’re double-checking everything. Like you have to put that human touch, that’s the final step.”

Stone, her colleague, describes coming to the same conclusion through his own experience.

Paul Stone has been a special educator at Riverview for 22 years. He says this year has brought a sharp change: “Then the number of students he serves shot up.” He describes the stress in blunt terms: “I don’t want to say it’s killing me. but it has put a huge stressor on my mental health and my life.”.

He also describes a wish that many teachers share but rarely get: “It would be kind of nice if there were two jobs, like one paperwork job and one working with the kids.”

Stone tried AI only after a tutorial from Acebu a few weeks ago. He says he was surprised by the results. “It’s an amazing time-saver so far.”

He uses AI for multiple tasks, including producing simple summaries of complicated data to present to parents at IEP meetings. He makes clear that the tool doesn’t replace his role: “I mean, it’s not like ‘that’s it, I’m done.’ I still have to go through and check it all.”

Both Stone and Acebu say AI could help educators avoid burnout. Yet the picture isn’t that simple for everyone.

A Band-Aid, guardrails, and the legal edge

Ariana Aboulafia, the lead author of CDT’s report, calls AI tools “a Band-Aid” for special education teachers who feel overworked.

The CDT warning doesn’t just focus on workload. It also points to the risks, especially in a field that is highly regulated.

“Student privacy is number one,” Acebu says. “Don’t put information there that’s gonna identify your students.” Aboulafia adds that even when schools use a vetted vendor, privacy risks can still exist. And if a data breach occurs, the information could become vulnerable.

Not all teachers rely on district-approved tools. Coleman. Waterfield and CDT’s research all found that educators around the country are using AI both formally and informally — from free consumer platforms like ChatGPT and Claude to district-approved tools like MagicSchool AI. Google Gemini and Playground IEP. among others.

To help teachers navigate that complicated landscape, Waterfield and Coleman developed a “decision tree” for ethical AI use.

Bias is another concern. Aboulafia says AI models can be biased, including against people with disabilities. She also argues that because some AI models rely on pattern recognition, they can be incompatible with a process that legally requires individualization.

Her most urgent concern is the group of educators using AI in a way she says crosses a line. Aboulafia is most concerned about the 15% of teachers CDT’s survey found have been relying entirely on AI to develop IEPs. There must always be a “human in the loop,” she says.

Coleman and Waterfield’s research, however, suggests there is a middle ground — one where AI helps teachers draft and organize while the teacher remains responsible for individualized decisions.

What AI helps make room for

In Acebu’s classroom, the time saved isn’t abstract. King’s progress is one outcome she points to.

King says he went from not being able to read to reading confidently since joining Acebu’s class last year. He says that change has been possible, in part, because AI has given her more time to work directly with students in the classroom and less on paperwork.

King also created a science fair project. He made turtle pieces from clay for a science project, and they became part of a board game he helped create with Acebu called Turtle Catastrophe. The board game was one of two projects from his school that was accepted at a local science fair.

King says he now goes to math class without any additional support.

Acebu calls that outcome a dream for special educators. “That’s the dream of every special educator,” King says, beaming. “But guess what? That takes a lot of hard work.”

In Acebu’s telling, AI tools don’t remove that work. They give her more time for it.

The tension behind the technology isn’t just about tools or software. It’s about teachers stretched thin by shortages and by paperwork required to serve students. When AI is used as part of that legal and ethical responsibility — with the human in the loop — teachers like Acebu and Stone say it can shift their days back toward the classroom.

special education IEPs AI in schools teacher shortages privacy Mt. Diablo Unified MagicSchool AI Google Gemini decision tree ethical AI