Articles
Pay, credit and renewal, without the fog
Short, sourced pieces on how teacher salary schedules work and how to use them.
Lane change, explained: how teachers move across the salary schedule
Columns, steps, approved units and the deadline that catches people every spring.
Graduate-level credit vs. graduate credit
What the words on your transcript mean, and why your district's HR office reads them closely.
Why the transcript date matters more than the course date
Finishing a course in June and filing in September can cost a full year of the higher column.
Clock hours, CEUs and semester credits: the conversions states publish
Washington counts 15 clock hours per semester credit; Oregon counts 30 PDUs. A table of what each state writes down.
The pre-approval form: the step most teachers skip
What the form is, where it is required (Hawaii's hard rule, many California districts), what to put on it and what skipping it costs.
How to read a teacher salary schedule
Steps, lanes, "+units" notation, longevity and stipends, with Seattle, Clark County and Williamson County schedules read line by line.
Units that count: what decides whether coursework moves your column
Level, subject, date, repeats, quarter-versus-semester and transfer rules, plus a check to run before you enroll.
Every article shows its publication date and cites the state or district document it reads from. Corrections are listed on the About page.