As a kid, Blake Nathan wanted to fly planes and learn everything there was to know about aircraft. So he pursued a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical and industrial technology at Tennessee State University.
But the year before graduating in 2012, while holding part-time jobs as a caregiver at a daycare center and as a middle school math tutor, Nathan discovered another passion. And a lightbulb went off. “Teaching was more satisfying than wanting to fly a plane,” he says.
So after graduation, Nathan applied and was accepted into the four-year Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship program, which provides entry to an established master’s track at a school of education, in Nathan’s case at Indiana University-Purdue University–Indianapolis. The fellowship helps make students who have been educated in science, technology, engineering or math ready for the classroom.
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Nathan got a $30,000 stipend the first year while he juggled a full course load — including pedagogy, theory, classroom management and courses in his engineering concentration — and student-taught at an Indianapolis high school. That led to a post teaching technology to middle schoolers, where Nathan is now a full-time, certified teacher. After Year One, students must teach three years in a high-needs school as part of the program.
“There are acute needs to find effective teachers” of STEM subjects, notes Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and these include adding women and people of color, who are significantly underrepresented, to the ranks. Ten of the top 14 fastest-growing industries require know-how in STEM, according to 100Kin10, a network supporting the national effort to get more STEM teachers into schools.
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Now, in the final year of his program, Nathan has his middle school students hard at work building rockets, assembling an LED circuit and making stop-motion animation films. “We do a lot of cool hands-on projects,” he says.
Nathan earns “over $40,000” and says he loves what he does. He has also started a nonprofit, Educate ME, to mentor African-American males in high school and beyond who want to pursue careers in education and teaching.
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There are a few other promising career options for education master’s students, too.
— Postsecondary: The demand for teachers in public and private colleges and universities, professional schools, community colleges, and career and vocational schools will grow by 13 percent for the decade ending in 2024, estimates the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While a Ph.D. is most often required at the university level, a master’s degree may suffice for positions at community colleges and other schools. The median annual wage for postsecondary teachers in 2014 was $70,790.
— Administrators: A master’s or doctorate in education policy has become a sought-after pathway for postsecondary administrators, says Thomas Rock, vice provost for enrollment services at Teachers College, the nation’s oldest graduate school of education, at Columbia University. Positions range from registrars to admissions officers to academic deans; such openings are expected to grow by 9 percent through 2024. More than 40 percent of advertised salaries for these positions are for $65,000-plus.
— Special education teachers: While the BLS says tight budgets may moderate hiring of special ed teachers to 6 percent growth overall by 2024, job prospects are “good” and are aided by the number of teachers who leave the occupation each year. At the preschool level, the growth rate should run 9 percent. Some states require a master’s degree in special education to become fully certified. The median 2014 annual wage was $55,980.
This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Graduate Schools 2017” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
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