A Career Primed for Growth
A Career Primed for Growth
As a Teacher Find Many Paths
Expand Your Leadership
Grade-level Chair
Act as the liaison to the administration on behalf of the group; set up and facilitate regular meetings to collaborate on curriculum, assessment, and policies; provide support to the other teachers and help to create a positive atmosphere.
Master Teacher
Help create a professional community of support and growth; share and model best practices, provide coaching to new teachers, open your classroom for observations, and advise school or district leaders.
Mentor Teacher
Mentor a student teacher who is still in training or an early-career teacher, and help them with anything and everything by co-teaching, coordinating joint or reciprocal observations, providing feedback, co-planning, and more.
Instructional Specialist
Become a literacy or math specialist and support other teachers at your school by modeling great instruction, providing coaching, helping with instructional planning, and facilitating skill-building sessions.
Advanced Certification and Schooling
Go back to school to earn another degree or join an elite network of expert teachers by earning National Board Certification.
School Leadership
Counselor
Advocate for students in all areas, including academic achievement, social development, preparation for college and future careers.
Teacher Coach
Through observation of classroom practices, provide evidence-based guidance to help fellow teachers achieve improvement in certain areas.
Assistant Principal
Report to the principal and assist in realizing a shared vision for success.
Dean of Students
Work with others, including counselors, nurses, parents, and the principal on behalf of student interest while helping to create a positive school climate.
Principal
Set an academic vision and supervise staff to reach it; build culture and establish relationships with students and parents; provide professional development plans for teacher growth.
Education Products and Services
Startup Founder
Create an organization that produces solutions and products to address an unmet need.
Social Entrepreneur
See a societal issue that needs attention, and lead an organization to help create movement and social change.
Account Manager
Use the relationship management skills you hone in teaching to build relationships and manage portfolios of work in a variety of sectors.
Analyst
Use your analytical skills and problem-solving capabilities to tackle and make sense of hard problems.
Sales Lead
Take the persuasive skills necessary in teaching and apply them to any sales job.
Policy, Advocacy, and Academia
Union Leader
Sometimes full-time or sometimes alongside your teaching responsibilities, serve with your union in leadership roles (typically elected) to address teacher complaints, negotiate contracts, and serve as a liaison between your school and the union.
Policy Fellow
Fellowship positions allow you to deepen your knowledge in a particular area, such as educational policy or practice, and serve for a fixed period. Some fellowships you may be qualified for as a teacher include TeachPlus and US Department of Education fellowships.
Policy Staff
There are a number of policy positions that you might consider at a Mayor’s Office, a County Office of Education, a State Education Agency, U.S. Department of Education, or the legislative branches at the state or federal level. In these roles, you may help research and inform educational policy decisions.
Advocacy
There are a number of organizations that exist to ensure that educator's voices are heard and considered as decisions are made about education - one example is Educators 4 Excellence (E4E).
Academic
Further your studies by obtaining a PhD. This pursuit may lead to many outcomes, including researcher, lecturer, or professor.