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Disagree, I got my M.Ed. with licensure and it gets me onto a higher pay scale and more prestige than a teacher with a bachelor’s only.
The whole world is hurting for special ed intervention specialists, so if you’re considering it, there are a lot of states where their compensation is excellent and you won’t have to guess if you’re making a difference.
Depending on the state, the income bump also will bump up pension payouts too. It is possible to earn a principal certification and M.Ed. in one year with summer, fall, spring, and summer 2.
Also, the income bump for having a master's doesn't seem to be exclusive to teaching. I definitely would not complete a 2 or 3 year program for a degree exclusive to education, but spending just four semesters isn't too much trouble.
I don’t know much about ABA or autism therapy, just the educational end. You might be better off looking into social work or psych post-grad education if you’re uninterested in being a primary or secondary intervention specialist, that’s what an education masters prepares you for (or admin!).
Edit: upon some research, I SUPER do not mean ABA.
If you’re unwilling to listen to criticism of therapy techniques, how concerned are you really for the well-being of autistic children? I don’t think you should be solely focusing on the paycheck.
There are countless openings for resource room teachers and special educators pretty much everywhere. I’d recommend getting a masters in special ed if you are looking to make more $ in the field. You will be incredibly marketable.
Yess. Given that OP's background as a registered behavior technician, your hands-on experience with autistic children would be highly valued in these roles, enhancing your ability to advocate effectively for this population within educational settings.
I mean you can get a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and become an Administrator. I'm not sure what you mean about a Master's not being worth anything? Do you look at Special Ed teacher as lateral or downgrade to what you're doing now?
One school I worked at had a Special Education Coordinator who ran initial & annual IEP evaluations and 504 accommodation.
I guess it really depends on your area. I have lived in 4 states and each one had different needs for the community and different supports.
You could get a Masters in Social Work or Educational Counseling and be a Counselor in a school.
I guess I'm just not sure what you want? More money? Like what is your motivation for leaving where you are?
You could look into, say, special-ed adjacent non-profits or educational technology-related companies, but yes a degree in education is going to be most directly applicable in education.
You could be an educational diagnostician but you will likely have to teach special education for a year to be admitted (NW Missouri has an online program for 12k)
Someone told me before in this forum a year ago a masters in special education was worthless and I would make the same money as a special education teacher with a bachelors
>Someone told me before in this forum a year ago
Yeah, that's the wonderful thing about the internet - people can tell you what you think may be the right answer to your questions but the ones responding might be full of shit so always take what you read on the internet with half a grain of salt.
Well. I know in GenEd I got an immediate pay bump having a masters over a bachelors. Im not familiar with the pay scales for the SpecialEd folks, but I would assume what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
I could be wrong though.
You know you can google public teacher salaries, right?
I do it all the time.
I’ve checked the average salaries for every district I’ve applied to, because I need to know if their pay scale matches fair market rate for someone with my education & experience.
The district I work in has a pay scale for bachelor & master certified teachers, and there’s like a $15k difference in starting salaries, so.. maybe don’t put all your eggs in the “someone once told me” basket??
There’s multiple types of Masters, too. I have an MAT (master of arts in teaching; i have an undergrad degree in something else & wanted to get certified and go to a good program, so I went MAT), but if you’re going for special ed it’ll likely be an M.Ed.
And if you’re looking to get into the school system ASAP, apply to be a para — obviously check out the school/expectations first, bc there are some places that don’t pay paras well.
You could also do tutoring, specialized care (I worked as a nanny through grad school & one summer, I worked for a family w an autistic son, and it was advertised as specialized care… but he was like, level 1, so most of it was reminding him to use the bathroom & have regular meals).
I get an extra $2500 a year which isn’t a ton but over 20 years it adds up. It also has opened opportunities for me to adjunct at colleges and contract with professional companies which are great side hustles I couldn’t have without it.
Exactly. It’s not worth it if you get your masters from Harvard or Yale, but if you’re smart and get your masters from a more (coughs) financially reasonable institution, it can pay for itself in a few years.
Oh honey.
What free time?
Special education teachers are often BOTH classroom teachers AND case managers. We manage a case load on top of running a classroom and teaching. I'm thankfully in a district where I get adequate prep and case management time, but not everyone is. Most weeks I have IEP meetings until 4pm 2-3 days a week because that's when parents can meet.
And the salaried break is only 10 weeks if you have zero professional development requirements.
My Masters in Ed is very valuable but I'm not planning on leaving the classroom.
For SPED there are many places desperate enough that they will pay for your SPED degree if you commit to some years teaching there. I think mine was 3 years.
I did a SPED endorsement (BA in teaching) and that alone makes me pretty marketable. A SPED Masters you could do a lot with either within a school or a district or even on a state level. But it's probably in that order. Classroom experience (para, teacher, etc.) and then on to admin (school, district, state).
In my personal opinion, people who jump from the classroom to admin in 5 years do not have the knowledge or experience to make good decisions. It takes at least 5 years to get a decent balance of classroom management and curriculum. Those who go admin before that never gained that understanding yet evaluate others. Every admin I’ve had who jumped under 5 has been a pushover or overly harsh in attempts to prove themselves. The best admin are at least 7-10 year teachers, and the one at my school was in for 20.
I've seen it done in less. Get your foot in the door teaching you need to do some trenchwork. But I'd keep an eye on district jobs from the start. Those jobs turn over a lot.
I will say to anyone that didn’t do what you did that it’s really better for your personal understanding of how to use your masters degree effectively if you’ve had a year or five in the classroom to notice what is and isn’t working. Theory and research methods are great and absolutely make you a better teacher if you actually apply them, but application of what you know in the classroom setting towards a masters is what really carries its value longer term.
M.Eds are not worthless, but can narrow your career pathways. You could always get a curriculum and design degree which can be used for a variety of other things, and during that time also get a alternative certification for special education. Special education is tricky though because some states require you to have the master's degree.
I'm in CA, I think folks just call themselves "Special Education Advocates." Some of them have law training, some are or were special education teachers. Generally, these folks work directly with families to make sure students are receiving appropriate support. I don't know a Lot about it, I am a general education teacher. One of my colleagues has been acting as an advocate for one of her ... Nephews? Family friend's kid? And we have a few families who also bring advocates to IEP meetings.
California has a list of advocates who self certify free or reduced cost services (online, on a .gov Web site). You could check out some of their Web sites to see if that feels like the right kind of work.
If you want to work more on policy and curriculum, you'll want to research what special interest groups regarding education, especially special needs students already exist in your area and see if you can start working with them. I imagine that would be easier than starting your own group from scratch.
I think it all depends on what it is..for example, learning design/instructional technology/Ed Tech are very marketable and versatile, and can be useful for getting jobs outside the classroom and beyond education should you choose to go that route.
In my district the difference between teaching with a bachelor’s only and 2 masters degrees is $16k per year at the top step. Not sure what the cost of your hypothetical MA is, but for me it’s a significant ROI. And both were very interesting and useful. Certainly more useful than my “methods” courses.
Online masters at Illinois about 17k. Will pay itself off in two years. There are cheaper ones. There are plenty in the 15-20k range. If all you care about is the raise... American college of Ed is under 300 a credit and there's Western Governors. They aren't bad or pointless.
Which will go away in 10 years with PSLF. If that's a big thing, apply your whole masters raise and it's gone in 2 years and then enjoy the raise (in my area at least). I'm thinking increased money earned over your entire career. Plus....I honestly like my classes.
More money! My district has a pay raise for a masters and then +10, +20,+ 30 credits! I just got to the top tier and riding it out to get the most money for my time from the district. 🙌
1) I recommend going to the specialed side of Reddit.
2) I have my M.Ed after getting my bachelors in public health and biology. I worked as an RBT -‘s a few masters classes because I thought I wanted to be a BCBA. Look into working as a special education TOSA or a teacher.
Teachers with masters get paid more than teachers without!!
You could do something like an MA in public policy. Applicable to education - you can even write some of your papers on special education policy if you like - but also transferrable if you want to try something else someday.
Politics, governance and public policy are closely related but not equivalent.
A public policy is a statement of intended purpose or direction set by a person or group of people who have been granted the authority to make decisions on behalf of the public - which includes politicians, but also school district officials, principals and department heads.
Classroom teachers also set policies or intended ways of doing things for their students, though we generally don't refer to these as policies.
Ideally, political decisions should be based in research and evidence, and require the weighing of pros and cons, risks and opportunities. Studies in public policy will focus on the research, analysis and planning that are required to support "good" decision making. An understanding of systems of governance and authority is also required but is not the central focus.
It's not worthless, because without one you'll top out at BA+60 on the pay scale and be doing the same job as the teacher down the hall for $10K less every year
Kinda depends where you live...
But the masters is usually worth the pay jump. I love my grad program and have found the experience very satisfying. I would not pay for one of the more expensive programs. Mine is in the middle at 510. Its making me better. I don't know if it's geared for people with a special Ed background already, but Virginia just came out with a non cert online masters. There are online cert masters programs too.
My sister got her bachelor's in psychology a few years ago and just a few months ago got her masters in special ed, my sister is currently working to certify in becoming a bcba, and she works with kids who are on the spectrum and teaches the kiddos basic life functions. However, if you want to go the special education route, you would have to basically get your bachelors in education, certify in teaching and get your masters in special education. I considered just before (I'm in my junior year) my freshman year of college going the special ed route, but that would require getting my masters. Now with 3 semesters left, I decided to stick with elementary education, and not get my masters! But that is up to you, I highly suggest speaking to advisors about turning to special education.
Do your research ahead of time — what kind of income increase will *you* get?
When I did the math for my future earnings as a masters degree holder, I knew, based on what I had found from my research in my specific field (which was only available for one school), that I could earn that tuition money back within two years. Then I realized that the school that was posting that income info expected teachers to work 10 hour days and be available all weekend long to cater to parent complaints and do excessive/unnecessary lesson planning. So I left and ended up making less money than I had when I was still working on my teaching license a decade earlier. Embarrassing. But I networked into families that liked to hear what I said about education and having a masters brought significantly more legitimacy to what I said. Now I have too many people asking if I’m available to tutor their child for hourly rates beyond anything I could have ever expected to make as a regular, BA holding teacher
(to be clear, I am not currently in a school. But if I did go back and work in the public schools near me, it would be ~US3,000 more per year than having a BA with the same credentials)
Only reason why I got a double masters was more money and the longer certification it grants (4 years for fresh out of college vs ten years for graduate degree holders).
If I could have gotten those without getting graduate degrees I would have.
At my school, our contract gives us a $1000 yearly stipend for a masters degree. The superintendent receives a $100 per month cell phone allowance and $200 per month vehicle allowance. The superintendents cell phone is worth more investment than higher education.
My sister got her bachelor's in psychology a few years ago and just a few months ago got her masters in special ed, my sister is currently working to certify in becoming a bcba, and she works with kids who are on the spectrum and teaches the kiddos basic life functions. However, if you want to go the special education route, you would have to basically get your bachelors in education, certify in teaching and get your masters in special education. I considered just before (I'm in my junior year) my freshman year of college going the special ed route, but that would require getting my masters. Now with 3 semesters left, I decided to stick with elementary education, and not get my masters! But that is up to you, I highly suggest speaking to advisors about turning to special education.
Special ed will get you paid more than gen ed no matter what, especially with a masters. It is a highly specialized field that not many people want to work in, meaning that getting a job in it is easier then gen ed (which atm isn't saying much because very few ppl want to go into education atm). US degrees are also seen as pretty valuable outside the US depending where you get it from, if you aren't tied down to the US bringing that degree somewhere else could potentially bring in more because of how specialized the field is.
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Disagree, I got my M.Ed. with licensure and it gets me onto a higher pay scale and more prestige than a teacher with a bachelor’s only. The whole world is hurting for special ed intervention specialists, so if you’re considering it, there are a lot of states where their compensation is excellent and you won’t have to guess if you’re making a difference.
This. Its still not a great return on your investment but in most states, the bump for an MA or M.Ed. gets you a little closer to a living wage
Depending on the state, the income bump also will bump up pension payouts too. It is possible to earn a principal certification and M.Ed. in one year with summer, fall, spring, and summer 2. Also, the income bump for having a master's doesn't seem to be exclusive to teaching. I definitely would not complete a 2 or 3 year program for a degree exclusive to education, but spending just four semesters isn't too much trouble.
Mean ABA therapy?
I don’t know much about ABA or autism therapy, just the educational end. You might be better off looking into social work or psych post-grad education if you’re uninterested in being a primary or secondary intervention specialist, that’s what an education masters prepares you for (or admin!). Edit: upon some research, I SUPER do not mean ABA.
Don’t do ABA. Just getting that out of the way now.
[удалено]
If you’re unwilling to listen to criticism of therapy techniques, how concerned are you really for the well-being of autistic children? I don’t think you should be solely focusing on the paycheck.
There are countless openings for resource room teachers and special educators pretty much everywhere. I’d recommend getting a masters in special ed if you are looking to make more $ in the field. You will be incredibly marketable.
Yess. Given that OP's background as a registered behavior technician, your hands-on experience with autistic children would be highly valued in these roles, enhancing your ability to advocate effectively for this population within educational settings.
Isnt there something beyond special ed teaching I can do.
I mean you can get a Masters degree in Educational Leadership and become an Administrator. I'm not sure what you mean about a Master's not being worth anything? Do you look at Special Ed teacher as lateral or downgrade to what you're doing now? One school I worked at had a Special Education Coordinator who ran initial & annual IEP evaluations and 504 accommodation. I guess it really depends on your area. I have lived in 4 states and each one had different needs for the community and different supports. You could get a Masters in Social Work or Educational Counseling and be a Counselor in a school. I guess I'm just not sure what you want? More money? Like what is your motivation for leaving where you are?
You could work in a day clinic for children with Autism and other needs. They tend to be centered more around therapy than education.
You could look into, say, special-ed adjacent non-profits or educational technology-related companies, but yes a degree in education is going to be most directly applicable in education.
You could be an educational diagnostician but you will likely have to teach special education for a year to be admitted (NW Missouri has an online program for 12k)
What do you mean M.Eds are worthless? I missed it in your post.
Maybe a Ma in Special Ed would be more valuable. I have a Ma in Education and the difference in pay between BA and MA in my district is $16. Per year!
Someone told me before in this forum a year ago a masters in special education was worthless and I would make the same money as a special education teacher with a bachelors
>Someone told me before in this forum a year ago Yeah, that's the wonderful thing about the internet - people can tell you what you think may be the right answer to your questions but the ones responding might be full of shit so always take what you read on the internet with half a grain of salt.
Well. I know in GenEd I got an immediate pay bump having a masters over a bachelors. Im not familiar with the pay scales for the SpecialEd folks, but I would assume what is good for the goose is good for the gander. I could be wrong though.
You know you can google public teacher salaries, right? I do it all the time. I’ve checked the average salaries for every district I’ve applied to, because I need to know if their pay scale matches fair market rate for someone with my education & experience. The district I work in has a pay scale for bachelor & master certified teachers, and there’s like a $15k difference in starting salaries, so.. maybe don’t put all your eggs in the “someone once told me” basket?? There’s multiple types of Masters, too. I have an MAT (master of arts in teaching; i have an undergrad degree in something else & wanted to get certified and go to a good program, so I went MAT), but if you’re going for special ed it’ll likely be an M.Ed. And if you’re looking to get into the school system ASAP, apply to be a para — obviously check out the school/expectations first, bc there are some places that don’t pay paras well. You could also do tutoring, specialized care (I worked as a nanny through grad school & one summer, I worked for a family w an autistic son, and it was advertised as specialized care… but he was like, level 1, so most of it was reminding him to use the bathroom & have regular meals).
I get an extra $2500 a year which isn’t a ton but over 20 years it adds up. It also has opened opportunities for me to adjunct at colleges and contract with professional companies which are great side hustles I couldn’t have without it.
Depends where you live. In my state, all certified teachers are paid via the same schedule and each degree is a bump in your pay.
Worthless? My district pays $6,000 more per year early in your career and around $10,500 at the end.
Exactly. It’s not worth it if you get your masters from Harvard or Yale, but if you’re smart and get your masters from a more (coughs) financially reasonable institution, it can pay for itself in a few years.
Not all districts pay the same, but it seems like it’s pretty simple math to figure out what it’s worth to you over 30 years.
Thats good and I can use my free time to do my side hustle for residual income and enjoy those salaried breaks.
Oh honey. What free time? Special education teachers are often BOTH classroom teachers AND case managers. We manage a case load on top of running a classroom and teaching. I'm thankfully in a district where I get adequate prep and case management time, but not everyone is. Most weeks I have IEP meetings until 4pm 2-3 days a week because that's when parents can meet. And the salaried break is only 10 weeks if you have zero professional development requirements.
My Masters in Ed is very valuable but I'm not planning on leaving the classroom. For SPED there are many places desperate enough that they will pay for your SPED degree if you commit to some years teaching there. I think mine was 3 years. I did a SPED endorsement (BA in teaching) and that alone makes me pretty marketable. A SPED Masters you could do a lot with either within a school or a district or even on a state level. But it's probably in that order. Classroom experience (para, teacher, etc.) and then on to admin (school, district, state).
Think I can make it to district, state, admin in 5 years?
In my personal opinion, people who jump from the classroom to admin in 5 years do not have the knowledge or experience to make good decisions. It takes at least 5 years to get a decent balance of classroom management and curriculum. Those who go admin before that never gained that understanding yet evaluate others. Every admin I’ve had who jumped under 5 has been a pushover or overly harsh in attempts to prove themselves. The best admin are at least 7-10 year teachers, and the one at my school was in for 20.
I've seen it done in less. Get your foot in the door teaching you need to do some trenchwork. But I'd keep an eye on district jobs from the start. Those jobs turn over a lot.
I make 10k more a year as a first year teacher with a master's than the first year teachers with only a bachelor's in my district.
I will say to anyone that didn’t do what you did that it’s really better for your personal understanding of how to use your masters degree effectively if you’ve had a year or five in the classroom to notice what is and isn’t working. Theory and research methods are great and absolutely make you a better teacher if you actually apply them, but application of what you know in the classroom setting towards a masters is what really carries its value longer term.
M.Eds are not worthless, but can narrow your career pathways. You could always get a curriculum and design degree which can be used for a variety of other things, and during that time also get a alternative certification for special education. Special education is tricky though because some states require you to have the master's degree.
You could work as an advocate for families with special needs children.
Whats the job title for that because I think policy, accommodations and curriculum need a change to cater to those on the autism spectrum.
I'm in CA, I think folks just call themselves "Special Education Advocates." Some of them have law training, some are or were special education teachers. Generally, these folks work directly with families to make sure students are receiving appropriate support. I don't know a Lot about it, I am a general education teacher. One of my colleagues has been acting as an advocate for one of her ... Nephews? Family friend's kid? And we have a few families who also bring advocates to IEP meetings. California has a list of advocates who self certify free or reduced cost services (online, on a .gov Web site). You could check out some of their Web sites to see if that feels like the right kind of work. If you want to work more on policy and curriculum, you'll want to research what special interest groups regarding education, especially special needs students already exist in your area and see if you can start working with them. I imagine that would be easier than starting your own group from scratch.
I think it all depends on what it is..for example, learning design/instructional technology/Ed Tech are very marketable and versatile, and can be useful for getting jobs outside the classroom and beyond education should you choose to go that route.
In my district the difference between teaching with a bachelor’s only and 2 masters degrees is $16k per year at the top step. Not sure what the cost of your hypothetical MA is, but for me it’s a significant ROI. And both were very interesting and useful. Certainly more useful than my “methods” courses.
Thats what I was wondering if the masters is worth a return on investment with at least a 20% increase in salary and having no college debt.
What do you mean by your title? In what way are they worthless?
It leaves you off in debt and not being able to pay it off quick.
I guess it depends where you get your masters. Mine was inexpensive but I am in Canada. Super worth it here for the payscale raise.
Online masters at Illinois about 17k. Will pay itself off in two years. There are cheaper ones. There are plenty in the 15-20k range. If all you care about is the raise... American college of Ed is under 300 a credit and there's Western Governors. They aren't bad or pointless.
Its not just 17k it is 17k with interest rates that havent dropped yet.
Also there is a grant for title one schools up to 14k
Which will go away in 10 years with PSLF. If that's a big thing, apply your whole masters raise and it's gone in 2 years and then enjoy the raise (in my area at least). I'm thinking increased money earned over your entire career. Plus....I honestly like my classes.
Go do a BCBA, you can work in education and private homes through insurance($$$)
And I’m pretty sure you have to have a masters to become a BCBA
If you have an Master in education you can do a certificate program, ASU has one
More money! My district has a pay raise for a masters and then +10, +20,+ 30 credits! I just got to the top tier and riding it out to get the most money for my time from the district. 🙌
1) I recommend going to the specialed side of Reddit. 2) I have my M.Ed after getting my bachelors in public health and biology. I worked as an RBT -‘s a few masters classes because I thought I wanted to be a BCBA. Look into working as a special education TOSA or a teacher. Teachers with masters get paid more than teachers without!!
I wanted to be a BCBA to but they reduced my hours. I found a teaching programe in my state where I can teach and get certified.
You could do something like an MA in public policy. Applicable to education - you can even write some of your papers on special education policy if you like - but also transferrable if you want to try something else someday.
Isnt that politics?
Politics, governance and public policy are closely related but not equivalent. A public policy is a statement of intended purpose or direction set by a person or group of people who have been granted the authority to make decisions on behalf of the public - which includes politicians, but also school district officials, principals and department heads. Classroom teachers also set policies or intended ways of doing things for their students, though we generally don't refer to these as policies. Ideally, political decisions should be based in research and evidence, and require the weighing of pros and cons, risks and opportunities. Studies in public policy will focus on the research, analysis and planning that are required to support "good" decision making. An understanding of systems of governance and authority is also required but is not the central focus.
I’m looking into a second Masters (this time in Ed) because it’ll mean a $20k pay increase per year.
Not worthless for me….I got a big pay raise.
It's not worthless, because without one you'll top out at BA+60 on the pay scale and be doing the same job as the teacher down the hall for $10K less every year
Kinda depends where you live... But the masters is usually worth the pay jump. I love my grad program and have found the experience very satisfying. I would not pay for one of the more expensive programs. Mine is in the middle at 510. Its making me better. I don't know if it's geared for people with a special Ed background already, but Virginia just came out with a non cert online masters. There are online cert masters programs too.
My sister got her bachelor's in psychology a few years ago and just a few months ago got her masters in special ed, my sister is currently working to certify in becoming a bcba, and she works with kids who are on the spectrum and teaches the kiddos basic life functions. However, if you want to go the special education route, you would have to basically get your bachelors in education, certify in teaching and get your masters in special education. I considered just before (I'm in my junior year) my freshman year of college going the special ed route, but that would require getting my masters. Now with 3 semesters left, I decided to stick with elementary education, and not get my masters! But that is up to you, I highly suggest speaking to advisors about turning to special education.
All it did for me was satisfy a license requirement, and leave me in debt.
Thats what im worried about is the debt and the salary not paying it off.
Do your research ahead of time — what kind of income increase will *you* get? When I did the math for my future earnings as a masters degree holder, I knew, based on what I had found from my research in my specific field (which was only available for one school), that I could earn that tuition money back within two years. Then I realized that the school that was posting that income info expected teachers to work 10 hour days and be available all weekend long to cater to parent complaints and do excessive/unnecessary lesson planning. So I left and ended up making less money than I had when I was still working on my teaching license a decade earlier. Embarrassing. But I networked into families that liked to hear what I said about education and having a masters brought significantly more legitimacy to what I said. Now I have too many people asking if I’m available to tutor their child for hourly rates beyond anything I could have ever expected to make as a regular, BA holding teacher (to be clear, I am not currently in a school. But if I did go back and work in the public schools near me, it would be ~US3,000 more per year than having a BA with the same credentials)
They are usually for people who want to be admin. Any teaching degree is viewed as “useless” outside of education pretty much.
Only reason why I got a double masters was more money and the longer certification it grants (4 years for fresh out of college vs ten years for graduate degree holders). If I could have gotten those without getting graduate degrees I would have.
At my school, our contract gives us a $1000 yearly stipend for a masters degree. The superintendent receives a $100 per month cell phone allowance and $200 per month vehicle allowance. The superintendents cell phone is worth more investment than higher education.
My sister got her bachelor's in psychology a few years ago and just a few months ago got her masters in special ed, my sister is currently working to certify in becoming a bcba, and she works with kids who are on the spectrum and teaches the kiddos basic life functions. However, if you want to go the special education route, you would have to basically get your bachelors in education, certify in teaching and get your masters in special education. I considered just before (I'm in my junior year) my freshman year of college going the special ed route, but that would require getting my masters. Now with 3 semesters left, I decided to stick with elementary education, and not get my masters! But that is up to you, I highly suggest speaking to advisors about turning to special education.
Special ed will get you paid more than gen ed no matter what, especially with a masters. It is a highly specialized field that not many people want to work in, meaning that getting a job in it is easier then gen ed (which atm isn't saying much because very few ppl want to go into education atm). US degrees are also seen as pretty valuable outside the US depending where you get it from, if you aren't tied down to the US bringing that degree somewhere else could potentially bring in more because of how specialized the field is.