Career
Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary
Lead a school: teachers, students, budgets and community.
$105,870
Median pay
-0.3%
Job growth, 2025–35
20,600
Openings a year
Master's degree
Typical education
6 years
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues.
- Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities, policies, and student behavior or learning problems.
- Observe teaching methods and examine learning materials to evaluate and standardize curricula and teaching techniques and to determine areas for improvement.
- Determine the scope of educational program offerings, and prepare drafts of course schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility requirements.
- Enforce discipline and attendance rules.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on people & care, then persuasion & leadership?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Active Listening, Learning Strategies, Reading Comprehension, Judgment and Decision Making.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
6 years of education after high school (master's degree), for a median of $105,870 a year and 20,600 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- Educational Leadership and Administration, GeneralCIP 13.0401
- Educational, Instructional, and Curriculum SupervisionCIP 13.0404
- Elementary and Middle School Administration/PrincipalshipCIP 13.0408
- Secondary School Administration/PrincipalshipCIP 13.0409
- Superintendency and Educational System AdministrationCIP 13.0411
- International School Administration/LeadershipCIP 13.0412
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare$59,300 · -3.1%
- Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education$63,970 · -0.4%
- Special Education Teachers, Secondary School$74,260 · -0.2%
- Education Administrators, Postsecondary$104,590 · +1.8%
- Instructional Coordinators$77,440 · +1.6%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.