Since your school district must pay you according to your degree, the new principal may find you somewhat less attractive than a comparable candidate with a bachelor's degree in math education and similarly limited experience. Now, if math teachers are in short supply, the hiring officials may be delighted to find you and pay the increase your new degree requires, but this is something to keep in mind.
Conversion programs can also exist independent of a collegiate institution. Some are the product of a consortium of school districts, such as The Upper Valley Teacher Training Institute in Lebanon, New Hampshire. This unique teacher qualifying program takes individuals with bachelor s degrees, many of whom have had other careers or significant work experience, and places them with master teachers in actual classrooms for a full year. Half the year is at one grade level and the remaining half of the year with another grade. The year includes much independent work and follows a contract established at the start of the year. This contract will specify how and when the student will "solo" in the classroom, though in fact, these partnerships between supervising teachers and interns allow for the intern to acquire significant teaching mastery. These learning outcomes ensure that the program delivers the requisite training and experience for certification. There may be a requirement to participate in an associated classroom training program to meet state certification requirements, as well.
College Teaching
College and university teaching requires the doctorate, or in some cases, all but the dissertation (ABD) completed. Salary and assignments will be affected by lack of an earned doctorate. In addition to the doctorate, as we have seen, there may be requirements for teaching experience, a specified degree of research and publication or practice in a particular genre or subject area in math, and some additional competencies. There is almost always the requirement of teaching introductory college math classes to first and second year students.
Earnings
Middle and Secondary School Teachers
The teachers of math at this level are paid according to the same salary schedules as other teachers in their school district, and these schedules are based on a combination of your degree level and your teaching experience. These salary schedules are public information, and you can obtain them from your state Department of Education or from the particular school district you have an interest in. Teacher salaries vary dramatically across the United States by tens of thousands of dollars depending upon the wealth of the school district and the particular contract teachers have in a district.
Secondary School Teachers
As reported in the Occupational Outlook Quarterly Spring 1997, in the 1995 Current Population Survey (the most recent), secondary school teachers across the country had median earnings of $35,500, compared to $33,400for elementary school teachers. Salaries vary dramatically from state to state, possibly reflecting differences in cost of living, state education budgets, and job markets. According to another survey, by the National Education Association, the estimated national average salary of all public elementary and secondary school teachers for the 1995-96 school year was $37,900. Public secondary school teachers averaged about $38,600 a year. In some schools teachers receive extra pay for coaching sports or working with students in extracurricular activities.
Public School
The average salary of a public school teacher in Connecticut is $50,400 a year, almost double the average salary of a public school teacher in South Dakota at $26,300 a year. Salaries also differ by whether a school district is located in an urban, suburban, or rural area and whether it is public or private. The best source of current information on public school teacher salaries is the state Department of Education office for the state in which you hope to teach.
Private School
Private school teachers, who are not unionized and are not required to hold a state license, earn substantially less than public school teachers, although they may be provided with free housing and board which offsets the salary reduction. Teachers in public schools had average base salaries of $34, 200, compared to $22,000 for teachers in private school.
Post secondary
Math professors in higher education have significantly higher salaries, as you would expect with their advanced education and graduate degrees. As reported in the January 9, 1998, issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, the American Mathematical Society, the Institute for Mathematics Society, and the Mathematical Association of America surveyed faculty salaries at top ranked public institutions and found that professors earned an average salary of $80,370 in 1997 98, up from $78,586 the previous year. Assistant professors earned $47,451, up from $46,771. Full professors at top private colleges earned $93,123 in 1997, up from $89,518, while assistant professors made $47,561, up from $45,888.
According to a 1995 96 survey by the American Association of University Professors, salaries for full time faculty at all institutions averaged$51,000. By rank, the average for professors was $65,400; associate professors, $48,300; assistant professors, $40,100; instructors and lecturers,$33,700 and $30,800 respectively Faculty in four year institutions earn higher salaries than those in two year schools. Average salaries for faculty in public institutions, $50,400, were lower in 1995-96 than those for private independent institutions, $57,500, but better than those for religious affiliated private institutions, $45,200. Remember, these are average figures, and some teachers may start at a much lower level of pay. Some faculty members are able to add to their base salary by consulting, teaching additional courses, researching, writing for publications, or other scholarly employment, during both the academic year and the summer.
