Find Your Teacher Career Path (Guide)

As a leader for fellow teachers at your grade level, you can:

• 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 fellow teachers and help to create a positive atmosphere.

As a master teacher, you can:

• Help create a professional community of support and growth.
• Share and model best practices.
• Provide coaching to new teachers.
• Open your classroom for observations.
• Advise school or district leaders.

When you become a literacy or math specialist, you'll support other teachers at your school by:

• Modeling great instruction.
• Providing coaching.
• Helping with instructional planning.
• Facilitating skill-building sessions.

You can increase your salary and build your career if you go back to school to earn another degree, or join an elite network of expert teachers by earning your National Board Certification.

As a school counselor, you can advocate for students in all areas, including:

• Academic achievement.
• Social development.
• Preparation for college and future careers.

As a mentor teacher, you can support teachers-in-training and early-career teachers by:

• Co-teaching.
• Coordinating teaching observations.
• Providing feedback.
• Co-planning and more.

As a teacher coach, observe classroom instruction and provide evidence-based guidance to help fellow teachers improve as educators.

As a principal, you'll have the opportunity to:

• Set an academic vision and supervise staff to reach it.
• Develop your school's culture.
• Establish relationships with students and parents.
• Provide professional development plans for teacher growth.

Some schools have assistant principals too, who report to the principal and help realize a shared vision for success.

As Dean of Students, you'll work with almost everyone in your school's community, including counselors, nurses, parents and the principal, to create a positive school climate for students.

As a teacher, you'll have an on-the-ground look at what teachers and schools need. You might use your expertise leadership skills to provide solutions and products that address an unmet need.

Take Patty Palmer, a former educator who sought to “bring beauty and ease into a teacher’s daily practice." Now, she's co-founder and CEO of Deep Space Sparkle, a company that provides art resources and support for teachers.

Educators encounter all kinds of societal issues that need attention. With some teaching experience under your belt, you can lead an organization to help create movement and social change in education. 

Teaching is all about relationships. You can put your relationship management skills to use in other areas too, building relationships and managing client portfolios for businesses and sales teams.

As an analyst for businesses and organizations, you can use your problem-solving skills to understand and tackle hard problems. You'll analyze company and customer data and processes, and recommend solutions and ways to improve.

Any sales job requires interpersonal persuasive skills — skills that teachers have in spades. Use your relationship-building powers to thrive as a sales person in the private sector.

In a policy position, you might help research and inform educational policy decisions. As a policy staff member, you might work at places like:

• A mayor’s office.
• A County Office of Education.
• A State Education Agency.
• The U.S. Department of Education.
• Legislative branches at the state or federal level.

Many organizations help ensure educator's voices are heard and considered in policies that affect teachers and students. You might contribute as a teacher advocate through an organization like Educators for Excellence.

Many educators belong to teachers' unions, which work toward higher pay and better working conditions for teachers. Some union leadership roles are full-time, while others happen alongside your teaching responsibilities.

If you're elected as a union leader, you might:

• Address teacher complaints.
• Negotiate contracts.
• Serve as a liaison between your school and the union.

As a research analyst, you can develop and support education research, evaluation and statistics. As a researcher, you’ll provide technical assistance and evaluation services to support student success.

Fellowships let you deepen your knowledge in a particular area, such as educational policy or practice, over a fixed period of time. As a teacher, you might qualify for policy fellowships through organizations like TeachPlus.

You can also search for policy fellowships through our national database, or use this list as a place to start.

As an experienced educator, you can transition into a teaching role at a college or university. You might train new teachers or administrators in classroom best practices or teach in your content area, with a focus on how to plan engaging lessons. 

Most professor positions require a PhD, so you may choose to work towards your advanced degree while you're teaching, or apply to your school district for a sabbatical to begin your doctorate.

With an advanced degree, you may begin a career in education research. You can study big questions like:

• What's the best class size for learning?
• How do young children respond to digital learning tools?
• Which programs support English language learning?
• What's the best learning environment for students with disabilities? 

Develop research plans, conduct studies and publish your results to help educators and students. 

To become a teacher, you'll need to attend a teacher training program. Of course, these programs need dedicated staff and leaders. Some training and support programs work with teachers in a specific field, subject area or location to improve education in high needs areas. 

If you enjoy supporting new teachers, you may want to work toward a career leading teacher training programs.