One common misconception about education degrees is that they’re only useful for future classroom teachers.
However, education degrees can lead to all sorts of careers: They’re often held by education administrators, policymakers, researchers, technologists, curriculum designers, learning scientists, school counselors or psychologists, standardized test-makers and textbook authors. Staffers at education-oriented government agencies at the local, state and federal level — such as the U.S. Department of Education — frequently have academic degrees in education as well, and the same is true for representatives of education-related charities and nonprofit organizations.
Here’s what you need to know about the hierarchy of education degrees and how to choose the right one.
How to Tell if an Education Degree Is a Good Fit
An interest in helping others learn and a desire to work with children are common and compelling reasons for studying education, says Daniel A. Domenech, the executive director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association. Education majors tend to earn less than people who receive a comparable level of training in other fields, so a majority of people who become educators do so for non-financial reasons, he adds.
According to an August 2022 report from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that analyzes working conditions for low-income and middle-income workers in the U.S., the pay disparity between teachers and similarly educated professionals reached an all-time high in 2021, when teachers received 23.5% lower wages on average relative to other workers with comparable credentials.
However, some education occupations typically lead to six-figure salaries. For example, the median salary among U.S. school district superintendents, the majority of whom have doctorates, was $147,000 in 2022, according to a recent report from AASA.
Laura W. Perna, vice provost for faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, says education degree recipients can use their degree to do good work and benefit society. “If we think about the important problems that need to be addressed in our world, you know, so much of the answer comes down to education,” Perna says.
Stacey Ludwig Johnson, senior vice president and executive dean of the school of education at Western Governors University, an online university, emphasizes that schools and school districts aren’t the only places where education degree recipients can use their skills. For instance, an educator can work as a corporate trainer, helping a business to increase the skills of its workforce, she says.
[READ: How to Get a Teaching Degree and Become a Teacher.]
The Many Kinds of Education Majors
Though some education degree programs focus on teacher training, others concentrate on education administration, policy or technology. Some education majors explore the unique challenges faced by rural or urban schools.
Among teaching degree programs, some focus on a particular level of education, such as preschool, elementary, middle or high school. Teaching degree programs may also hone in on how to teach a particular subject, or they can emphasize teaching methods that work well with a specific student population, such as adult learners, multi-lingual learners or individuals with disabilities.
When comparing education degree specializations, keep in mind that the earning potential of educators varies widely depending on which part of the education system they are trained for and what credential their job usually requires. For example, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary among U.S. high school teachers, who typically had a bachelor’s degree, was about $61,820 in May 2021. That’s about twice the median salary of preschool teachers, who usually had an associate degree and earned $30,210. The median salary among principals, who usually had a master’s degree, was $98,420.
Sometimes educators with the same level of education earn different amounts depending on their area of focus. For instance, BLS data reveals that though teachers who specialize in basic adult education generally had the same amount of training as high school teachers — a bachelor’s degree — their 2021 median salary was roughly $2,100 lower.
Education Degree Levels and How to Find the Right Tier
Leadership roles in the education sector generally require graduate education. The more training educators have, the higher their salaries tend to be. For example, according to PayScale, a compensation data company, the average base salary for U.S. workers with a Bachelor of Education, or B.Ed. degree, was $57,000, whereas the average annual base salary among those with a Doctor of Education, or Ed.D. degree, was $80,000.
Prospective education students should analyze the resumes of people who have jobs they are interested in to figure out the highest level of education to pursue, experts say.
Associate Degrees
Many preschool teaching jobs require at least a two-year associate degree in early childhood education. Teachers’ assistants or paraprofessionals usually need at least two years of college coursework or an associate degree to work in public school classrooms.
Bachelor’s Degrees
A bachelor’s is the minimum amount of education needed for an entry-level K-12 teaching position at a U.S. public school.
Master’s Degrees
A few states require teachers to begin pursuing a master’s degree within several years of beginning teaching to maintain their license. Teachers may also move up the pay scale with a master’s. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 58% of U.S. public school teachers who taught during the 2017-18 school year had a more advanced degree than a bachelor’s.
Instructional coordinators or curriculum specialists, the educational administrators who oversee curricula, standards, teaching materials and often assessments, usually have a master’s, and their median salary was $63,740 in May 2021, BLS data shows.
College and university administrators, who earned a median annual salary of $96,910 in May 2021, also typically have master’s degrees, according to the BLS. Work in education policy typically requires a master’s degree as well.
Master’s degrees in education usually require two years of coursework.
Doctorates
College faculty who research and teach about education typically have Doctor of Philosophy, or Ph.D., degrees, and they sometimes have Ed.D. degrees. According to PayScale, the average salary for a worker with a Ph.D. in education was $87,000. Doctoral programs in education usually last at least three years and often take longer to finish.
School district administration positions sometimes require doctoral education, and certain managerial roles at government agencies and nonprofit organizations are reserved for individuals with doctorates. Education researchers frequently have doctorates, and so do school psychologists.
Guidance on Figuring Out How Much Schooling You Need
When deciding how high of a degree they should aim for, education students should think about the level of expertise and the kinds of skills that their desired job requires, says Carol Basile, dean of Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College. “As you continue to move up in any education organization, there begins to be more of a requirement for a doctorate,” she says.
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The Many Types of Education Degrees: How to Pick Your Path originally appeared on usnews.com
