The past twenty years have seen a significant uptick in people pursuing graduate-level degrees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people over 25 with master's degrees has doubled to 21 million since 2000. 

Reasons for pursuing a graduate degree vary among individuals seeking to advance their knowledge, earn better wages, and/or advance their leadership opportunities in the job market. With education being one of the top five graduate programs in the country, we'll examine how this degree can help you reach your career goals.

What Does M.Ed Stand For?

M.Ed is the master's in education abbreviation, a distinction for the graduate-level degree, Master of Education. It is usually just called a Master of Education.

What is the M.Ed Degree?

The M.Ed is a post-graduate degree for people working in education or seeking advanced leadership opportunities within education. Students seeking the M.Ed will gain valuable knowledge of teaching and technologies in their future classrooms. The M.Ed is also beneficial in other educational settings such as charter schools, homeschooling, higher education, non-profit education programs, and corporate environments such as Human Resources and corporate training.

The master's in education usually takes up to two years to complete and includes a curriculum with evidence-based research. Expect to create assessments and instruction models that will benefit your future students. The M.Ed coursework can prepare you for creating learning programs designed to meet the needs of a diverse student group.

As a graduate student pursuing the M.Ed, you'll enroll in foundational courses that embody the social foundations of education, classroom assessments, and the subject of learning and motivation in the student. You'll develop the skills needed for customizing lessons that incorporate technology into your classroom and prepare you for online teaching. 

Furthermore, the M.Ed curriculum prepares you for meeting the cultural needs of students through enhancing your classroom skills and recognizing students with specialized needs.

Why Pursue an M.Ed?

If you're seeking to expand your job opportunities, an M.Ed can give you the advantage you need to land a job with higher pay. The degree also provides leadership preparation that extends beyond the classroom setting and into administrative roles. 

If you later decide to pursue a doctorate, the M.Ed provides an ideal path and offers many networking opportunities within education.

As a student pursuing a master's in education, you'll have opportunities for internships where you will gain valuable hands-on experience while developing your instructional skills. Internships often lead to full-time positions and/or connections with educational leaders willing to help you in your job pursuits after graduation. 

When I was pursuing my M.Ed, I was allowed to complete my internship at a local community college. The semester-long internship provided me with classroom training at a community college level for teaching adult basic education and helped me develop a professional network.

Another accolade offered by the M.Ed degree is the ability to customize it according to your career goals. For example, you can add a specialty to your degree program with a certification in special education or English language learning. Other areas of specialization include early childhood education, curriculum and instruction, school counseling, literature, and educational technology. 

The M.Ed degree offers many options and flexibility for career advancement, making it a top choice among those in education seeking advanced degrees.

Career Paths with an M.Ed

Consider leadership roles such as a school principal position that requires a graduate degree. The M.Ed could boost your annual earning potential by $20,000 for this leadership role. Specialize in a specific area of education, such as adult education, and you'll expand your career prospects into the corporate arena, where you may work as a corporate trainer or human resources professional. 

You'll also enjoy a higher salary in the corporate landscape, with annual wages up to $10,000 more than the traditional classroom teacher.  

The M.Ed degree offers additional administrative career paths. You may enjoy working as an educational consultant or consider a role as an education policy analyst, where you will work at the state level. Become a leader in curriculum development, where you'll work for school districts to design classroom curriculums. If writing is your strong suit, use your M.Ed to become a textbook author. 

With multiple opportunities and career paths, the M.Ed degree is one of the most popular graduate-level degrees in education.

How Does an M.Ed Differ from Other Education-Related Master's Degrees?

The M.Ed degree is a graduate degree more focused on leadership roles than other graduate-level education degrees, such as the Master of Arts in Education (M.A.Ed). Degrees such as MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) have curriculums similar to those of the M.A.Ed and M.Ed, but the differences are evident in the foundational coursework. 

While the MAT focuses on classroom teaching theories, the M.Ed is designed to prepare the graduate student for administrative and/or leadership roles. The M.Ed also focuses on educational policy and procedure and instructional design.

Additional noteworthy differences in the M.Ed degree are its focus on preparing you for administrative roles in policy and research compared to the MAT degree, which primarily focuses on classroom teaching practices. 

Understanding the core differences should help you decide how the M.Ed degree can advance your career and give you a better idea of what you can expect from the degree's curriculum.

Master the Journey to the M.Ed

Deciding to pursue the M.Ed will depend on your educational career goals. If you are seeking a position of leadership or administrative responsibilities, the M.Ed is the right path to gain the knowledge and experience you'll need. 

Discuss your educational goals and career interests with an advisor. Take advantage of internships for networking and career opportunities. Boost your resume by listing internships you've completed, and remember to ask for letters of commendation from your graduate program peers.

Jumpstart your career with the M.Ed by taking our free education career quiz!