Additionally, a greater focus on educational quality and accountability, as required by the No Child Left Behind Act, is likely to lead to an increased demand for teacher assistants. Growing numbers of teacher assistants will be needed to help teachers prepare students for standardized testing and to provide extra assistance to students who perform poorly on standardized tests. An increasing number of afterschool programs and summer programs also will create new opportunities for teacher assistants. In addition to those stemming from employment growth, numerous job openings will arise as assistants transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force to assume family responsibilities, to return to school, or for other reasons characteristic of occupations that require limited formal education and offer relatively low pay.

Opportunities for teacher assistant jobs are expected to be best for persons with at least 2 years of formal education after high school. Persons who can speak a foreign language should be in particular demand in school systems with large numbers of students whose families do not speak English at home. Demand is expected to vary by region of the country. Areas in which the population and school enrollments are expanding rapidly, such as many communities in the South and West, should have rapid growth in the demand for teacher assistants.