How to Grow Your Career — and Salary — in Education

I started my career as a second-grade teacher in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.  

I had 32 students in my class, and I was making $26,000 a year. At age 21, that felt like a fortune until I started paying rent, making car payments, buying groceries, and buying school supplies for my classroom. 

Fast forward 34 years, and I’m honored to be the president of Moreland University. I’ve worked in education my entire career, and I’ve managed to focus on the work and continue seeking incredible people to work with — and a side benefit has been compensation levels I didn’t know existed as a new teacher. 

Now, don’t get me wrong: Teachers in the United States 100% deserve to be paid more. The funding system for schools in this country is inequitable and puts districts (and teachers) in a challenging spot. 

All I’m saying is, a calling to education doesn’t have to mean a calling to barely getting by. 

It isn’t “work in education” OR “make a reasonable living.” You can do both.  

Here are my 4 tips to help you grow your career — and your salary — in education.  

#1 Invest in yourself. 

If you start your career as a classroom teacher and want to stay a classroom teacher, that’s amazing. There is no job more important, and your salary will grow with your years of service and continuing education. 

But if you start as a classroom teacher and want to expand from there, my biggest piece of advice would be to invest in yourself. Keep learning, go to grad school, earn a master’s degree, attend a conference. 

Some of this learning will be free and some of it will cost money, but it will all pay off down the line for you and your career.  

There’s often an automatic salary bump for teachers who earn their master’s degree, and in many states it’s significant. In Washington, D.C., where Moreland is based, the starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree is $63,373, according to the National Education Association. The starting salary for a teacher with a master’s degree is $67,958 — a $4,585 difference. 

In Georgia, another state with lots of Moreland graduates, the difference is $5,317.  

If your master’s program costs $14,000 (that’s the master’s tuition at Moreland), it pays for itself in just a few years. Then you’re earning a higher salary every year for the rest of your career. 

[Source: National Education Association (NEA) ]

#2 Invest in your network.  

One of my great joys as Moreland University President is when students or faculty come to me and say, “Hey, how did you become president of a university?” 

I’m humbled and honored when those questions come my way because I love sharing my knowledge and experience with others. I’m an educator to my core, and if someone is interested in a similar career path to mine, I’m thrilled to help in any way I can.  

If you want to grow your career, use Facebook, use LinkedIn, use your current administration or school board. Find people you admire or people who have interesting jobs and ask them: “Hey, how did you get there?” 

People are willing to help you, but you do have to ask… and you will be so glad you did!

#3 Remember your skills. 

Nobody is “just” a teacher. If you’re a teacher, you’re also a great communicator. You’re a great planner. You’re great at connecting people, and I would say you’re brilliant at understanding the needs of your audience. (Who else has to cater to the individual learning styles of 20 or 30 different people at once?) 

Those skillsets are all transferrable to other jobs and industries, you just have to remember how qualified and skilled you are.  

Nobody is a better problem-solver than a teacher. Nobody works better with few resources or better under pressure.  

Remember how valuable you are. 

#4 Open yourself to possibility.  

The job opportunities in education are almost endless: K-12, higher ed, publishers, consulting firms, educational technology companies. There are for-profits and nonprofits. Remote and in-person. You could work in Maryland or Hawaii or anywhere around the world. 

I never dreamed that starting as an elementary school teacher in Pennsylvania would lead me to London, where I got to work with a brilliant digital content team supporting teachers all over the globe. 

Or that I’d end up in Australia doing a teacher exchange.  

Or, frankly, that I’d get to be president of a university. I had no idea that was even a possibility — I just knew I loved kids and felt this great sense of responsibility to be there for them.  

I didn’t have a “master plan” when I graduated from Muhlenberg College in 1991. I went into school thinking I wanted to be a doctor, I came out knowing I wanted to be a teacher. 

Then, I simply followed my passion. I stayed open, I stayed curious, and I tapped into my network. 

The career and salary growth? That took care of itself.