how much is a degree in special education worth?

Its worth as much as the school district you can get a job at pays you. I don’t know where you are from but the starting salary for Sped teacher where I am from is about $30,000 a year on the low end and the more education you get the higher you go.

My wife and I have both been Special Ed teachers for 9 years , we have the exact same education (Masters), but she makes about $8,000 more than I do because her district is a higher paying district.

An associates degree is not really worth much unless you just want to be a teachers aide, because you need at least a bachelor’s degree to get your teaching certificate.

Most special ed teachers get paid on the same scale as the teachers working with “normal” students. A master’s degree is standard in just about every state for all teaches and an absolute must for special ed. Salaries are adjusted in some areas by the degree, years in the district and in some places signing bonuses if they are especially short. Going into teaching for the money and summers off is not the best of ideas. Teaching, especially special ed, is an emotionally intensive, physically demanding and often frustrating job. You have to love what you do and want to make a difference and, despite all the red tape, funding issues and testing requirements, not be abl to even imagine yourself doing anything else but teach.

Where I live, a first year teacher makes $44,100 if they have a bachelors degree and $48,693 for a masters. That is before the 5% raise per year for the next two years. So, the pay really isn’t bad! You can go on the county school system’s website and find the payscales for teachers – it is public knowledge. Just remember also that you generally get decent insurance for really cheap (I have a great plan that costs only $70 a month for the whole family), a good amount of sick leave, and plenty of holidays. Oh yeah, the payscale listed for my county is based on 10 months, so a 12 month position for a 1st year bachelors degree position is actually about 52,000

I am a special ed. teacher. My response to you is that if you have to ask what it’s worth then it’s probably not the field for you. People go into special education because they love these kids and believe me it’s a lot of work outside the classroom to find the right way of helping these children learn. Search your heart because education is not a field for someone looking for easy money. Just my opinion. Melanie

You can’t put a price on it. The feeling from contributing in a positive way in the lives of special needs children is so fulfilling that salary doesn’t matter.

In other words…they don’t pay you squat…but the above mentioned is true!

Its pretty special…probably cant assign an exact value to it. Remember that when negotiating with the school(s) who interview you for a teaching position in said field…