In the Mid-Del School District, the students are not the only ones who hit the books. The district requires its teachers to at least have a bachelor's degree. For those who go on to attain additional college hours and advanced degrees, there are financial incentives in place to reward their efforts.

No one is getting rich teaching in the district, but an advanced degree paired with years of service can lead to a little more money in the bank each year for the district's educators.

The district reports 49 percent of its teachers have a bachelor's degree, 26.3 percent hold a master's degree and five teachers have either a Ph.D or an Ed.D, a doctorate in education. Between those numbers are instructors who are between bachelor's degrees and holding master's degrees or between a master's degree and completing a doctoral program. Recently, two of the district's administrators completed their Ed.D's.

Kartina McDaniel and Tammy Roberson hit the books and earned their doctoral degrees. McDaniel is the district's early childhood curriculum coordinator, and Roberson is the assistant principal at Parkview Elementary. McDaniel earned her Ed.D. in educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, and Roberson earned her Ed.D in administrative/teachers leadership from Walden University's Doctoral Program.

McDaniel, a transplant from Riverside, Calif., came to Oklahoma on a volleyball scholarship courtesy of the University of Oklahoma. There she met her husband, Michael, a minister. The couple moved from Oklahoma City to Tulsa and then back to the metro area as Michael took jobs at various churches. While in Tulsa, McDaniel had the opportunity to pursue a master's degree through a cohort program with Oklahoma State University-Tulsa. During that time, she was also working on certification through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

NATIONAL NOTICE
With her master's degree and national board certification in hand, McDaniel took a job as assistant principal at the Mayo Demonstration School in Tulsa and was quickly promoted to principal of Burroughs Elementary School in Tulsa.
 
A partnership between the Tulsa Public Schools and OU-Tulsa allowed McDaniel and 22 other school administrators to work on Ed.D's. During that time, Michael McDaniel took a job at a church in Forest Park, and the couple and their two children moved back to the Oklahoma City metro area. McDaniel was hired by the Mid-Del Schools.

Now in her second year with the district, she recently completed her Ed.D after commuting back and forth to Tulsa to complete her coursework. McDaniel was the first student to complete an Ed.D through that program.

"It was challenging, this last year, to get it done," she said.

For McDaniel, however, her degree meant more than accolades and a pay increase. She is on track to one day be a school superintendent and hopes to take her experience and training to improve the quality of teaching in the Mid-Del district and help train the district's future leaders.

PAYOFFS
Katherine Hughes, Mid-Del Schools assistant superintendent, said the district encourages its teachers to work toward additional college hours and degrees, and can provide modest financial rewards.

"Our pay scale allows teachers to receive additional salary for their bachelor's, master's, doctorates and hours in-between," she said.

Documents provided by district officials show a first-year teacher coming into the district with a bachelor's degree can expect to earn $31,522.80 per year in base salary. With retirement and benefits, that number comes to $33,895.49. The next year, that same teacher can expect to bring in just more than $32,600 in base pay. At 32 years of service with a bachelor's degree, a teacher will bring home just over $51,000 in base pay and benefits.

Teachers with 20 hours of graduate study in addition to a bachelor's degree can expect a few hundred dollars more per year. That number climbs an additional few hundred dollars each year in compensation for those with master's degrees, master's degrees with additional hours and doctoral degrees. A teacher starting his or her first year in the district with a doctorate can expect to earn $36,598.49 in base pay and benefits.

REWARDS, NOT RICHES
Hughes said no one gets into teaching to get rich, but the district does try to compensate those who choose to teach in the district and reward them for their tenure and ongoing educational pursuits.

The district has even gotten involved in a program that last May graduated 17 teachers with master's degrees in a collaborative program between the district, Rose State College and the University of Central Oklahoma.

But with more education and advanced degrees, many teachers will move from the classroom to administrative roles. Hughes said while she wants teachers to keep learning, it can sometimes pose a challenge when a great teacher is no longer teaching but instead serving in an administrative role.

"That's hard," Hughes said. "But if we can bring those great teachers into leadership roles, they can develop the number of teachers in their building to be good, if not great teachers."

For McDaniel, she is exactly where she wants to be and looks forward to her work helping shape the policies and objectives for the district, its teachers, and, more importantly, the students. She praised those in the district that work tirelessly each day to make the district and its students successful.

"I'm so happy to be in Mid-Del," she said. "It's a great place."

photo Mid-Del School District's Kartina McDaniel recently completed her Ed.D. degree. photo/Kelley Chambers