As a DFW teacher, you’ll get a competitive starting salary, comprehensive benefits and opportunities to grow your career. Learn everything you need to know!
There are lots of ways to increase your teaching salary—including earning an advanced degree, leading extracurriculars and meeting performance benchmarks.
Programs like the Teacher Incentive Allotment or Dallas ISD’s Teacher Excellence Initiative are designed to reward educators for effective teaching. You can earn close to—or even over—six figures!
Dallas ISD bases teacher salaries primarily on job performance and an annual evaluation—rather than a traditional, experience-based salary schedule. If you receive a high evaluation, your salary could increase significantly the following year!
In other districts, you can still boost your salary through job performance. The Teacher Incentive Allotment lets districts designate “Recognized,” “Exemplary,” and “Master” high-performing teachers. These designations come with a salary bonus—often for thousands of dollars! (3)
Job performance and experience are two of the best ways to increase your salary—but they’re not your only options! You could also:
Ask your district if they offer incentives or extra pay in any of these areas!
Salary numbers are important, but you may be wondering how teaching compares to other professions.
A DFW teacher’s salary is comparable to or even higher than many other fields. Plus, teachers are contracted to work about 190 days each year—compared to 260 work days in most other fields. (4)
As an educator, you can grow your career—and your salary—both in and out of the classroom.
As you gain experience, you can grow into specialized leadership roles, such as a mentor teacher or peer observer position.
Mentor teachers help student teachers and early career teachers build their skills. Mentors also earn extra pay!
After you have some experience under your belt, you might be curious about shifting your career focus. School or district leadership positions can be a great next step.
Many educators also go on to work in higher ed, policy and education advocacy. The skills you build teaching can take you anywhere you want to go!
From teacher support to district leadership to education policy, there’s no one map for your education career.
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