gETTING aDDITIONAL gRADUATE cREDITS: How I maxed out my pay scale in 2.5 YEARS
When I started in my district my first-year of public school teaching (2018), I was getting paid at Step 1, Salary Lane MA since I had only taught in private school the two years before while working on my Masters of Education at Harvard. Since then, I've been cranking out graduate credits the last two years to move to MA+75, the top of my pay scale. It was definitely a hefty upfront cost but, to me, well worth the initial investment for the many future years of increased earning power, especially since I made back what I put in after only one year!
STEP ONE: look into your district's rules around graduate credits
Some things I learned through my initial research regarding graduate credits and lane increases for my district:
Here's a simple calculator I made that you can use to see if paying for graduate credits is worth it financially.
- Graduate credits must be from accredited universities and be relevant to education.
- I could get $500 reimbursed in tuition costs each academic year (only $500 for provisional teachers, $1000 for permanent teachers).
- I could only submit graduate credits once I've become eligible for a salary lane change (e.g. 15 GCs to move to MA+15).
- The pay increase would enter into effect the first of the next month after submission.
- It could take up to 3-4 months for the pay increase to take effect but I'd be paid retroactively as needed.
- There's no limit to how many GCs you can submit for at any one time.
Here's a simple calculator I made that you can use to see if paying for graduate credits is worth it financially.
STEP TWO: Sign up for graduate credits online
I primarily got my graduate credits from two main sites: Dominican University Summer Courses and Advancement Courses.
1) Dominican Univeirsity offers online, asychronous summer courses (2-6 GCs) that are great because they're super open ended and allow you to work on whatever you feel is most valuable to your practice. I paid $715 for 6 GCs ($119/GC) for the EDUX 9983: Ignite Your Professional Teaching Practice summer course where I:
This is honestly the easiest and most effective use of time on graduate credits since you can really just work on whatever you want. You're probably putting in 150 hours working on your curriculum anyway! Might as well get some graduate credit out of it!
There's a follow up course you can take the following year called EDUX 9984: Reflecting on Igniting Your Professional Teaching Practice that is the same format and cost but I didn't take it because I had already reached MA+75 at that point. Since the two courses have distinct course codes, you CAN take both! (I'd highly recommend it.)
1) Dominican Univeirsity offers online, asychronous summer courses (2-6 GCs) that are great because they're super open ended and allow you to work on whatever you feel is most valuable to your practice. I paid $715 for 6 GCs ($119/GC) for the EDUX 9983: Ignite Your Professional Teaching Practice summer course where I:
- Filled out and submitted a Professional Learning Plan.
- Logged hours (150 needed in total) over the summer spent working towards the goals in my PLP.
- Presented what I worked on over the summer at an Exit Interview (15 min. slide deck presentation).
- Filled out a course reflection survey.
This is honestly the easiest and most effective use of time on graduate credits since you can really just work on whatever you want. You're probably putting in 150 hours working on your curriculum anyway! Might as well get some graduate credit out of it!
There's a follow up course you can take the following year called EDUX 9984: Reflecting on Igniting Your Professional Teaching Practice that is the same format and cost but I didn't take it because I had already reached MA+75 at that point. Since the two courses have distinct course codes, you CAN take both! (I'd highly recommend it.)
2) Advancement Courses offers hundreds of different online courses in which you can earn 3 GCs per course. I've found Advancement Courses to be the most economical and straight-forward way of getting GCs at a price of $449/3 GCs. However, they almost always have coupon codes that give 15-25% discounts so you shouldn't pay more than $359/3 GCs or $120/GC.
Almost all of the courses are formatted the same way:
For all the courses I worked on in Advancement Courses, my final project was a slide deck presentation with the major important takeaways from all the readings with some examples and applications of how I could apply the concepts to my specific school environment. Once you get used to taking Advancement Courses courses, you'll find they're all almost identical in format and requirements and you'll get into a rhythm to complete the courses more quickly.
Advancement Courses gives you the option to select the University Partner you get your transcript from. I chose Greenville University and had a great experience with their registrar and getting my transcript quickly. Greenville does have a 15 credit limit per term, so you'll only be able to work on 5 courses at a time. Semester Dates are:
Almost all of the courses are formatted the same way:
- You'll need to complete five learning modules to complete the course.
- Each module has a PDF of required reading, a discussion post, a practice multiple choice quiz.
- Modules 1 and 3 require you to submit a Checkpoint activity which must be graded and approved by an online facilitator before the next Checkpoint Activity can be submitted. (If you don't score high enough, you can just apply the feedback that they give you and resubmit again.)
- Module 4 requires that you post your Draft Final Project to a community forum and seek/give feedback.
- Module 5 is the Final Project Submission where you submit your Final Project with your Implementation Plan.
For all the courses I worked on in Advancement Courses, my final project was a slide deck presentation with the major important takeaways from all the readings with some examples and applications of how I could apply the concepts to my specific school environment. Once you get used to taking Advancement Courses courses, you'll find they're all almost identical in format and requirements and you'll get into a rhythm to complete the courses more quickly.
Advancement Courses gives you the option to select the University Partner you get your transcript from. I chose Greenville University and had a great experience with their registrar and getting my transcript quickly. Greenville does have a 15 credit limit per term, so you'll only be able to work on 5 courses at a time. Semester Dates are:
- Spring 2021: January 1 - May 9
- Summer 2021: May 10 - August 22
- Fall 2021: August 23 - December 31
Potential Spring & Summer Game Plan
Now is a great time to get working on accumulating some graduate credits. The most cost efficient way to move up salary lanes would be to strive for completing 15 graduate credits a year since 1) you may be able to get some tuition reimbursement from your district each year and 2) you'll be moving yourself up one lane each year (which will have annual future returns!). If you're really motivated, you could even work on 15 credits this spring semester through AC, 15 credits through AC + 6 credits through DU this summer, and then 9 credits through AC in the fall to move up TWO salary lanes in a matter of months!
Many people think of investments in terms of stock and funds. Don't forget that YOU are your own best investment. And the more you make, the more you can in turn invest elsewhere.
Many people think of investments in terms of stock and funds. Don't forget that YOU are your own best investment. And the more you make, the more you can in turn invest elsewhere.