$136,450top of the range in New York · middle $72,040 / yr
AI augments this role
Speech Teachers in the United States earn a median of $72,040 a year. Pay starts near $48,780. Pay reaches $136,450 at the top of the range in New York, the best-paying state for this work among those with at least 500 people in the job.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education, SOC 25-2031). Last checked 9 September 2026.
Entry level
$48,780
Top of the range · New York
$136,450
Education
Bachelor's degree + teaching license
Wages — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education). Top of the range is the highest state-level figure among states with at least 500 people in the job. AI-impact rating is PayCrunch's editorial assessment. Updated September 2026.
🆕 New & Trending AI Tools for Speech TeacherReviewed September 2026
We track new AI-tool launches every week and refresh this list — here’s what’s gaining traction for Speech Teacher work right now.
MagicSchool AINEWFree / $8.33 mo
All-in-one teacher toolkit with 80+ tools for planning, IEPs, and communication.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: generate lesson plans, rubrics, and parent messages in minutes
Brisk TeachingNEWFree / school pricing
AI assistant that works right inside Google Docs, Slides, and the browser.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: give feedback, differentiate readings, and build lessons in the tools you already use
CoGraderNEWFree / $19 mo
AI grading tool for writing assignments with rubric-based feedback.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: grade a class set of essays in a fraction of the time, with consistent feedback
NotebookLMNEWFree / $7.99 mo
Google tool that answers questions grounded only in the documents you give it — with citations.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: load your own manuals, policies, or PDFs and ask questions that stay accurate to the source
KhanmigoFree for teachers
Khan Academy's AI tutor and lesson-planning assistant.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: plan standards-aligned lessons and give students a safe AI tutor
CuripodFree / $7.50 mo
Generates interactive, slide-based lessons from a topic or standard.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: turn a topic into an interactive lesson students respond to live
DiffitFree / paid
Adapts any text or topic to the right reading level with questions.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: level a reading for every student and auto-build comprehension questions
ChatGPTFree / $20 mo
The most-used AI assistant — writing, analysis, research, and images from a plain-language chat.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: draft emails and documents, summarize long files, and get instant answers to on-the-job questions
ClaudeFree / $20 mo
AI assistant known for careful writing, long-document analysis, and coding.
How a Speech Teacher uses it: analyze big reports or spreadsheets and turn messy notes into clean, finished writing
A classroom, a stage, and a Friday that has to open
A speech teacher in a school teaches people how to speak in public, how to perform, and how to listen. The courses may be called speech, drama, theatre, oral communication, or debate. The week includes lessons on voice, argument, and scene work, plus the after-school life of a play, a speech tournament, or both. You are a classroom teacher. Students call you by that role. Parents meet you at a show. Administrators count you on the master schedule. The work is instruction and direction, not clinical treatment of a speech disorder.
That distinction matters the moment a posting blurs it. A speech-language pathologist evaluates and treats communication disorders under a clinical licence. A speech teacher holds a state teaching licence and teaches a subject. Some schools need both people. They are not substitutes. If you want the clinical path, you need the pathologist's education and licence. If you want the classroom and the stage, you need the teaching licence and a program that can open on time. This page is about the teacher.
Lessons, rehearsals, and the tournament weekend
A teaching day starts with periods. You might run a public-speaking unit in the morning, a scene workshop before lunch, and a study hall or a second prep you did not ask for. You grade speeches, you coach a student who is afraid of the front of the room, and you keep a class moving when half of it would rather hide. The skill is the same one every strong teacher has, aimed at voice and performance: a clear target, a way to practice, and a response that helps the next attempt.
The other half of the job often starts when the bell rings. Rehearsal for a play, a musical's spoken scenes, or a forensics practice can fill the late afternoon. Tournament weekends mean early buses, ballots, and students who need a calm adult between rounds. You teach them how to win cleanly and how to lose without collapsing. You also deal with the practical side: a set that is not ready, a cue that was missed, a permission slip that never came back. Directors who only love the art and ignore the paperwork lose the program. Directors who only police the paperwork lose the students. The job is both.
The licence comes from the education agency
The credential is a state teaching licence granted by the state education agency, in the subject area the agency uses for speech, theatre, drama, or communication. It proves the agency has recognized you as prepared to teach that subject in its schools. It does not prove you may diagnose a speech disorder, bill for therapy, or supervise a clinical assistant. Those acts belong to other credentials. When you apply, name the licence you hold and the subject it covers. If you are finishing a program, say where you are in the agency's process. Principals can plan around a date. They cannot plan around a vague hope.
People prepare in teacher-education programs that include the subject and student teaching in a secondary classroom. You learn to plan a unit, manage a room, and direct young performers without turning rehearsal into chaos. Theatre degrees can be part of that preparation when they are paired with the licence route the agency requires. A degree alone, with no teaching licence, will not satisfy a public-school posting that lists the credential. Private programs sometimes hire differently. Ask. Do not assume a strong directing resume replaces the paper a public district must file.
Kept apart from clinical speech work
Students with communication disorders still enroll in your class. You teach them the subject, and you follow the supports an educational plan already names. You do not become their therapist because you teach speech. If a student needs evaluation, you refer. If a pathologist is already in the building, you collaborate the way any teacher collaborates: you share what you see in class, and you leave diagnosis to the clinician. That boundary protects the student and protects you. Crossing it because you are kind is still crossing it.
The same boundary belongs on your resume. List plays, tournaments, courses, and the licence. Do not list clinical practice you did not complete or a scope you do not hold. A hiring committee that includes a pathologist, or a principal who has been burned before, will notice. Your actual work is enough. A student who could not face an audience and then did, a show that opened on time, a debate squad that learned to research an argument: those are the proofs of this job.
Teacher here, clinician elsewhere
A speech teacher is a classroom teacher of speech, drama, or both, licensed by the state education agency. A speech-language pathologist is a clinician. The titles share a word and not a credential. Apply for the chair you are licensed to hold.
How a high school actually fills the opening
Departments hire when someone leaves or when a program grows. The interview is often a principal, a department chair, and sometimes a demonstration lesson. Teach a short segment that shows how you get teenagers to speak, not how you lecture about speaking. If they ask about the after-school load, be honest about what you will direct and what you need in order to do it safely. Ask how many productions the year includes, whether forensics is an expectation, and whether a stipend sits on top of the teaching salary. Ask who controls the budget for rights, sets, and travel. A beautiful program with no budget is a different job from a modest program that is funded.
Student teaching is the usual first look a district gets. Treat it as the job. Take attendance, call families, and run rehearsal as if the show were yours, while you still have a mentor to catch you. After that, substitute work or a one-year contract is a common bridge. Keep the licence current and keep a simple portfolio: a unit plan, a few production photos that do not exploit students, and a letter from a mentor who saw you teach. The portfolio should prove classroom control and artistic judgment together. Either one alone is incomplete for this hire.
From a first prep to the person who leads the program
Early years are survival and craft. You learn which speaking exercises work with ninth graders, how to cast fairly, and how to end rehearsal while students can still get home. You learn the district's grading system and the agency's renewal rules. You learn which colleagues will share a stage and which ones need a boundary. The teachers who last are the ones who can run an ordinary Tuesday and an opening night without becoming cruel or chaotic.
Later, some speech and drama teachers become department chairs, arts leads, or directors of a larger program that includes several productions and a tournament calendar. Some move into curriculum roles. Some stay in the classroom because the teaching is the point. A stipend for directing is part of many of these lives, and it should be named in the offer rather than discovered in October. When you negotiate the base salary, you are negotiating the teaching job. When you negotiate the stipend, you are negotiating the extra calendar. Keep them in separate sentences so neither one disappears.
Middle school and high school can share a licence and still feel like different crafts. Younger students need shorter performances and more structure. Older students can carry a full play and a public argument, and rehearsal can turn sharp if you do not watch the room. Ask which building you are entering, and ask whether you are the only adult in the program. A solo director in a large high school is a heavier load than a pair of teachers in a smaller program. The survey will not show that difference. Your description of the load should. Community audiences add one more fact: a show parents attend is a public account of whether students were safe, prepared, and proud. Principals remember that account when they talk about pay. You should remember it too, and you should be paid as the teacher who carries it.
Secondary-teacher pay, in a deliberate order
The figures are Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Name the shared series once, here: Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education. A classroom speech or drama teacher is inside that secondary-teacher group, which is much wider than speech and theatre alone. The national middle is $72,040. The lower published figure is $48,780. The upper published bound is $136,450 in New York. From the lower figure to the national middle is $23,260. From the national middle to that high end is $64,410. From the national middle to the highest state median is $30,630.
State medians are a different statistic, and they should be read in this order: Rhode Island at $92,610, Massachusetts at $95,260, New York at $97,070, California at $101,370, and Washington at $102,670. The highest median is Washington at $102,670. The lowest median in the release is Oklahoma at $48,710. The gap between those two medians is $53,960. Oklahoma's median sits near the national lower figure of $48,780. They are still different statistics: one is a state median, the other is the national entry figure. New York's median is $97,070. New York's upper published bound is $136,450. The high end is New York. The highest median is Washington. Those are different statistics and different places.
An offer that does not confuse New York with Washington
An offer near $48,780 matches the lower published figure. It can fit a new teacher at the start of a schedule. The national middle is $23,260 higher, at $72,040. Ask how the schedule counts student teaching, prior teaching, and the extra directing load. Do not answer a first-year offer with $136,450. That number is the upper published bound in New York, $64,410 above the national middle. It is also a different statistic from New York's own median of $97,070.
An offer near $72,040 matches the national middle of the secondary-teacher series. The medians above the national middle, in the same order, are Rhode Island at $92,610, Massachusetts at $95,260, New York at $97,070, California at $101,370, and Washington at $102,670. Washington's figure is the highest median and sits $30,630 above the national middle. Say the median for the place you are entering, and call it a median. A recruiter who quotes New York at $136,450 as typical teacher pay has used the high end. The New York figure for typical pay in this series is the median, $97,070. Washington's higher median does not move New York's high end, and New York's high end does not move Washington's median.
The gap between Washington's median and Oklahoma's median is $53,960. Use it only to compare those two medians if a move is really on the table. It does not describe a Massachusetts stipend, and it does not describe the New York high end. Write the teaching offer, $72,040, and the state median that matches the school. Write any directing stipend on a separate line, and do not pretend the survey priced that stipend for you. Add $136,450 only when you mean the upper published bound in New York, and keep Washington's $102,670 beside it as the highest median, a different statistic in a different place. The licence makes you eligible to teach. The program you can actually run is why a principal should pay you as a teacher who directs, not as a generic line on a schedule.
The top of Speech Teacher pay — and how to get there with AI
$136,450what Speech Teacher pay reaches in New York
Highest state-level top-of-range annual wage for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education, among states with at least 500 people in the job. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
And the role it leads to — Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary — reaches $394,880 in Arkansas.
$48,780entry$72,040middle$136,450top end
Movement in this pay range comes from the stipended and scheduled roles stacked on top of teaching, and those go to the person whose grades, eligibility and activity records are already current when the deadline arrives.
Maintaining accurate and complete student records as required by law, district policy and administrative regulation is the quiet tax on this job. Add sponsoring a club or academic contest, running remedial programmes for students who need extra help, and counselling students through academic problems, and the record-keeping doubles while the teaching stays the same. Teachers who automate the repeatable half of that, using recorded feedback instead of written comments and a gradebook that exports rather than gets retyped, free the evenings that stipended roles actually require.
Your playbook, by where you are now
Just startingStop writing the same comment twice
Build one Microsoft Excel gradebook whose columns match what PowerSchool SIS expects, so entering marks is an import rather than an afternoon.
Write a rubric bank for the speech types you assess most, with the comment for each score band already drafted.
Record spoken feedback on student speeches in Screencastify instead of typing paragraphs, and score once while you talk.
Have students post practice runs to Flipgrid so you assess a rehearsal in your own time rather than losing class periods to it.
Set clear objectives for each unit in writing at the start and keep them where students and an administrator can both see them.
What proves it: A term where every grade, rubric and comment was filed on the day it was earned.
Realistic span: the first two or three years
A few years inAutomate the club and the remedial record
Run the contest team's roster, eligibility, permission forms and travel from one Microsoft SharePoint site so nothing lives in your inbox.
Keep unit plans and objectives in Common Curriculum, then reuse them rather than rewriting a scheme each August.
Ask Claude to turn your dictated rubric notes into parent-ready comments, then correct every statement about a student before it is sent.
Track the remedial programme properly: who was referred, what was tried, what changed, so extra help is evidence rather than goodwill.
Post materials and submissions through Blackboard software once, in a structure you repeat every unit.
What proves it: A contest season and a remedial programme both run from written records nobody had to chase you for.
Realistic span: years four through eight
ExperiencedConvert the free evenings into paid roles
Take the stipended positions that pay on top of the scale, head coach of the contest team and activities coordination among them.
Write the school's communication and public speaking course sequence so the subject reads as a programme rather than an elective.
Mentor new teachers on records and on guiding students through academic problems, which is the usual route to department chair.
Look at teaching the same subject for college credit, since postsecondary and dual-credit work pays on a different table.
Weigh location honestly, with New York leading the state table for secondary teaching.
What proves it: A stipended role plus a written course sequence the school adopted.
Realistic span: from about year nine
The next 90 days
Pick the single record that always ends up late and rebuild it in the next ninety days. For most speech teachers that is written feedback on graded speeches, which cannot be finished during class and gets pushed to a weekend. Replace it: score against a fixed rubric while the student is still speaking, then record ninety seconds of spoken comment in Screencastify and release it the same day. Students get better feedback because it arrives while they remember the speech, and you get a whole category of evening work back. Do it for one course first, measure how many hours it actually returns, and use that number when you ask for the coaching stipend or the schedule you want next year.
Wage figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025. The playbook is PayCrunch editorial guidance, not a guarantee of pay or placement.
Every figure is the national median from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS) shown on that role’s own page.
Never used AI before? Start here (2 minutes).
Open MagicSchool AI or ChatGPT and build your next unit. Ask for a standards-aligned public-speaking or debate unit with daily lesson outlines, a speaking-assignment sequence, and a student-friendly rubric, then make the pedagogy your own. Curriculum design is the biggest after-hours time sink for teachers; a strong first draft in minutes gives you back the evenings — and the energy for the coaching that builds your reputation.
For feedback, record student speeches (with consent) and use Otter.ai to transcribe, then have ChatGPT help you give every student specific comments on content while you judge delivery. Keep student names, grades, and recordings out of consumer AI without district approval, and always have students verify AI's 'facts' — checking sources is the lesson.
The one rule, forever: Protect student privacy under FERPA — never upload student names, grades, recordings, or identifiable work to consumer AI without district approval and consent. Use AI to build materials and speed feedback, but you set the standards and make the final assessment. Check AI-generated debate 'facts' and sources; AI hallucinates citations, and teaching students to verify is itself the lesson.
The plays — exact steps, exact prompts
Do these in order. Each one is copy-paste ready. You do not need to know anything about AI going in.
1
Build a semester of speech and debate lessons in an afternoon
Why this pays: Curriculum design is the biggest unpaid time sink. Producing strong, standards-aligned units fast frees the energy for the coaching and program-building that earn stipends and leadership pay.
MagicSchool AIDiffitChatGPT
1
Generate a full unit with lessons, an assignment sequence, and a rubric, then adapt it.
Copy-paste this prompt
You are a curriculum designer for a high-school [public speaking/communication] class. Build a 6-week unit on [persuasive speaking]: learning objectives, daily lesson outlines, a graduated speaking-assignment sequence, a student-friendly rubric, and differentiation for shy or multilingual students. Align to common speaking-and-listening standards.
A first draft — review for accuracy, adjust to your students and standards, and make the pedagogy your own.
2
Use Diffit to generate leveled readings and comprehension supports for the unit's example speeches and texts.
What you'll haveA ready-to-teach unit and rubric bank — evenings reclaimed and energy freed for the coaching that builds reputation.
2
Give every student individualized delivery feedback
Why this pays: Fast, specific feedback on every speech — not just the graded few — accelerates student growth and results, the outcomes behind a standout, well-funded program worth stipends.
Otter.aiChatGPTDescript
1
Transcribe a recorded speech with Otter.ai, then have AI draft content feedback you refine.
Copy-paste this prompt
Here is the transcript of a student's [3-minute persuasive speech]: [paste de-identified transcript]. Assess it against these criteria — thesis clarity, evidence, organization, and word economy — and give two specific strengths and two concrete, encouraging improvements a 10th-grader can act on. Comment on content only; I assess delivery in person.
Use de-identified transcripts (no names, and get consent before recording); AI supports your feedback on content — you judge delivery and set the grade.
What you'll haveSpecific feedback on every speech, not just a few — the faster student growth that makes a program stand out.
3
Coach argument, evidence, and case-building for competition
Why this pays: A competitive speech-and-debate program wins recognition and coaching stipends — a direct pay-and-status lever beyond base salary.
ChatGPTPerplexityClaude
1
Map both sides of the resolution and generate cross-examination drills, then verify the evidence.
Copy-paste this prompt
Act as a debate coach. For the resolution [paste this year's policy or LD topic], outline the core affirmative and negative arguments, the key stakeholders, and the strongest evidence areas to research. Then generate 10 cross-examination questions students should be ready to answer. Point me to where to verify each claim.
Teach students to verify every source — AI invents citations. Checking AI's 'facts' against real evidence is itself the debate lesson.
What you'll haveSharper cases and better-prepared debaters — the competitive results that earn recognition and coaching stipends.
4
Differentiate for reluctant and multilingual speakers
Why this pays: Reaching every student — anxious, IEP, or English-learner — lifts whole-class results, exactly the inclusive practice that promotion and leadership reward.
MagicSchool AIChatGPTCanva
1
Adapt one assignment into scaffolded versions for different learners.
Copy-paste this prompt
Adapt this speaking assignment — [paste the assignment] — for three students: one with significant speech anxiety, one English learner at an intermediate level, and one with an IEP goal for [organization/executive function]. Give scaffolds, sentence frames, and modified success criteria for each while keeping the core skill. Generic strategies, no student data.
Templates only — individualize to real students and their IEP/504 plans securely, and keep student data out of consumer AI (FERPA).
What you'll haveEvery student reachable at their level — the whole-class growth that promotion and leadership reward.
5
Move up the pay schedule: master's, National Boards, department lead
Why this pays: Advancing on the salary schedule — master's, National Board certification, department chair, head-coach stipends — is how a teacher reaches the $136k top of the range.
NotebookLMChatGPTClaude
1
Compare the pay impact of each advancement and build a two-year plan.
Copy-paste this prompt
Act as a mentor for a secondary speech/communication teacher. Compare the pay impact of [a master's degree vs National Board Certification vs taking on department chair and head speech-coach roles] in a typical district salary schedule. Then build a realistic 2-year plan to raise my salary the most, including a National Board component study timeline.
Planning only — confirm salary-schedule specifics and stipends with your district and the certifying bodies.
What you'll haveA concrete plan up the salary schedule — the credentials and roles that reach the $136k top of the range.
Your 12-month sequence to the top of the range
How the plays above stack into a path from median pay toward the $136,450 tier.
Month 1
Use MagicSchool AI and ChatGPT to build your next unit and a reusable rubric bank; reclaim your evenings.
Months 2-3
Set up an Otter.ai-based feedback loop so every student gets specific comments on every speech.
Months 3-6
Build or grow the speech-and-debate program with AI-assisted case prep and take on the coaching stipend.
Months 6-12
Start a master's or National Board component and position for department-chair or head-coach roles — the $136k track.
Gear for this job
As an Amazon Associate, PayCrunch earns from qualifying purchases. Links to books and tools are for the job on this page; we only recommend what we’d use in the work.
Same live Jossey-Bass 3rd already on high-school-teacher / middle-school-teacher / math-teacher / test-prep-instructor / substitute-teacher / science-teacher / music-teacher / drama-teacher / adult-education-teacher / corporate-trainer / instructional-designer / stem-teacher / pe-teacher (ASIN 1119712610). This leftover page is BLS Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education (SOC 25-2031); play 1 is Build a semester of speech and debate lessons in an afternoon; play 2 is Give every student individualized delivery feedback; start-here is Open MagicSchool AI or ChatGPT and build your next unit; one-rule is Protect student privacy under FERPA. Classroom technique for leftover multi-prep / speech / debate-lesson load — not leftover Wong as the lead (that is dance-instructor / teacher-k-12 / montessori-teacher) and not leftover Praxis as a dump. Confirm 1119712610. Live page HTTP 200, no PC_GEAR / amazon.com/dp / tag=paycrunch-20 at 2026-09-18 1:20 AM PT. Source page: math-teacher.
Next steps for a Speech Teacher
Some links below are affiliate or partner links. PayCrunch may earn a commission if you enroll or subscribe through them, at no extra cost to you. Wage figures on this page still come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not from these programs.
Speech Teacher work is specific enough that a stamped 'check out these courses' block would be noise. BLS files this work as Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education (SOC 25-2031). O*NET Job Zone 4 is typical: a bachelor's degree, so the honest next credential is a professional certificate or bachelor's-level coursework — not a random catalog dump.
The occupation's listed knowledge area is Psychology, which is what the course searches below actually query.
Speech Teachers in this dataset list Microsoft SharePoint among the tools in use, so a program that names that stack is a better fit than a survey course.
Coursera search for teaching — a professional certificate or bachelor's-level coursework that lines up with education, not a generic professional-development aisle.
FlexJobs screens remote, hybrid, freelance, and flexible listings so you are not wading through unverified ads. This is a job-board search for Speech Teacher work, not a claim that they list a counted SOC 25-2031 inventory.
Write a Speech Teacher resume, or one aimed at Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary, instead of a blank template. Resume Now is a resume builder; we are not claiming a counted template set for this SOC.
A Speech Teacher resume that names the actual tasks on this page, or the step-up title Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary, beats a blank template when you apply.
What Speech Teachers earn by state
These are the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own figures for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education, state by state — not a cost-of-living adjustment applied to the national number. Only states employing at least 500 people in the occupation are shown, because a state median drawn from a handful of workers is noise rather than a signal.
Washington
$102,670
highest of them · +43% vs the national median
Oklahoma
$48,710
lowest of the 53 states and territories that qualify · -32% vs the national median
The same job pays $53,960 more a year at the median in Washington than in Oklahoma — 111% higher. That gap is what the Bureau measured, before any question of what it costs to live in either place. The top-of-range figure quoted at the head of this page, $136,450, is a different statistic in a different place: it is the 90th-percentile wage in New York. The state that pays the typical worker most and the state where the best-paid go highest are not always the same one.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 25-2031. 53 states and territories clear the 500-employee reporting floor for this occupation; those below it are left out rather than shown with a wide error band.
Free data. Use any of it.
PayCrunch publishes verified, BLS-sourced salary + AI-playbook data on 1,000+ professions — free, no signup.
No. Teaching public speaking is inherently human: reading a nervous student, coaching presence and delivery, building trust, and running a team. AI can draft lessons and feedback on content, but the coaching and the standards are yours. Teaching students to use AI critically is now part of the job.
Should students use AI to write their speeches?
Teach them to use it as a brainstorming and research partner, not a ghostwriter — then to verify every fact, because it invents sources. The skill you're building is their own voice and argument. Make AI a tool they interrogate, and design assignments that reward original thinking and live delivery.
Is it safe to use AI with student work?
Only with care. Don't upload student names, grades, recordings, or identifiable work to consumer AI without district approval and consent. Use de-identified transcripts and generic assignments — and you make every final assessment yourself.
How does AI raise a teacher's pay?
Not through base pay directly, but by freeing the hours that let you take on stipended coaching roles, build a standout program, and pursue the credentials (master's, National Boards) and leadership posts that move you up the salary schedule toward the top of the range.
What should I start with?
Building your next unit and a rubric bank with MagicSchool AI or ChatGPT. Curriculum design eats the most time; automating the first draft frees energy for coaching — where reputation and stipends come from.
Methodology & sources
Salary (median, 10th, top of the range) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS.
By state — the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ own state medians, limited to states employing at least 500 people in the occupation. No cost-of-living arithmetic is applied to a wage anywhere on this page.
The plays — PayCrunch's own step-by-step guidance using publicly available AI tools. Tool names/URLs are real and current as of August 2026; prompts written to work as-is. Verify any professional output before relying on it.