Lori Ramey
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

The skillsets of teaching vs administrator are quite different. Many master teachers are outstanding at working with students and curriculum content. They aren’t skilled at human capital development, which is part of an administrator’s role.

I work for Western Governors University, where the bulk of faculty work directly with students via teaching, mentoring, and advising. We have team leads and plenty of administrators, but I think the dichotomy between admin and teacher skillsets is even more pronounced in higher ed. WGU launched a major initiative this year to provide a clear, detailed explanation of job levels (from 1 to 8) in each department or type of job. The goal was to create — as you’ve noted here — opportunities for faculty who want their careers to focus on serving students to “level up” in seniority, breadth, and career opportunity without having to move into management. It’s a new thing, so I don’t know how it’s going to work for real, and it won’t be perfect. But I’m thrilled that the organizational leadership put so much effort into creating pathways for career development in this way.

What’s cool about it, honestly, is that the levels are descriptions of influence and authority/autonomy rather than specific job duties. As someone “levels up,” their influence widens. But that doesn’t mean they have to become a People Leader (manager) to advance in what WGU terms an Individual Contributor role. After all, serving students is our core mission. There’s a ton of flexibility in the system to allow individual teams to define a “level up” in their realm. And those levels come with increased responsibility and pay.

In a K-12 setting, perhaps a similar “diagonal arc” of expanding influence and autonomy could be the reward for teachers who invest in professional development and hone their skills. Not just “you earned a masters! Cha-ching!” but a recognition of a wide variety of advanced skills via more authority and a pay raise. Maybe a teacher who’s really excellent at helping students who are behind in reading/math catch up would become a go-to mentor for all teachers who need help in that area. Maybe a teacher would finally be compensated for his work in writing brand new curriculum for a state-mandated course. Lead teachers who have to organize committee meetings and keep their teams moving forward might be given both a raise and the responsibility to select the PD assignments for their team next year, based on the needs of the individuals on the team. That’s getting into the realm of People Leader, but without all the hassle of school admin.

I dunno. I hear ya, Tim. This is definitely a problem in K12 education.

Really, though…. I think teachers leave the classroom becuase there’s just so much bullshit laid on teachers, between assessments and standards and lack of autonomy and pitiful funding and the grinding generational poverty that chews up kids and their families in many parts of America. I think that’s what drives good teachers out of the classroom. That, and not being able to pay their bills because so many states are bad at taxation and budgeting.

I left K12 because I was tired of making less than $30K a year even though I have two master’s degrees and a decade of experience. I loved the actual teaching part of teaching.

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Lori Ramey

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Educator, Designer, Dabbler // Twitter @lorojoro // Read more at rameylady.com