High School Teacher Career Assessment

2What is a High School Teacher?

A high school teacher teaches one subject deeply. You are hired as the chemistry teacher or the English teacher, not as a general classroom teacher, and in most North Dakota schools you are one of only one or two people in the building who teach your subject at all. You plan lessons, run labs or discussions or problem sets, grade, and keep grades current in a system parents can see from their phones. You write recommendation letters. You talk with students about what they are going to do after graduation, because they ask you, and because you are one of the adults they trust. In a smaller ND school you will teach more than one course — the same person often teaches Algebra I, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus — and you will almost certainly coach a sport, advise a club, or run a student organization on top of that.

The Reality: Say this part out loud: you will teach students who do not want to be there. Attendance is mandatory until they are old enough to leave, and some of them have decided your subject is useless. You cannot make them care by caring harder. What actually works is being consistent, being fair, and being genuinely good at your subject — teenagers forgive a lot from a teacher who clearly knows the material. The other honest part is the workload. Grading follows you home. A stack of 120 essays does not grade itself during your prep period, and there is no year where that gets easier, only years where you get faster.

Your Responsibilities:

• Teach one subject to five or six classes a day, sometimes at three different course levels
• Plan lessons that go deep enough to hold up for students headed to college and trade programs alike
• Grade essays, labs, tests, and projects for roughly 120 students
• Keep the online grade book current so students and parents can see it
• Write recommendation letters and talk with students about life after graduation
• Contact parents about grades, missing work, attendance, and behavior
• Cover hall duty, lunch duty, study hall, and supervise school events
• Coach a sport, advise a club, or run a student organization in most ND schools

You are one of the last teachers they will ever have, and they know it.

3A Day in the Life

7:15 AM — Unlock the room. Set up the titration lab, pull the safety goggles, and answer three emails before the bell.

7:55 AM — First period chemistry. The lab goes well. One group spills the whole burette and you make them redo it.

9:40 AM — Third period, same lab. Two students are absent for a basketball trip, so you plan how they will make it up.

10:45 AM — Prep period. Grade twenty-two lab reports, enter grades, and copy tomorrow’s worksheet. A student comes in to retake a test.

11:40 AM — Lunch duty in the commons for twenty minutes, then you eat a sandwich standing at your desk.

12:20 PM — Physical science, which is a different course with a different plan. Then two more sections of chemistry.

3:20 PM — Bell. Two seniors come by to ask you to write recommendation letters. You say yes to both.

3:45 PM — Coach track until 5:30. Then home, with a folder of lab reports you will grade after supper.

Deep in one subject, five times a day, with coaching on the end of it.

4Training in North Dakota

A four-year degree in your subject and a North Dakota teaching license. The North Dakota secondary license covers grades 5 through 12 in your subject. That is a wide license — it reaches both middle school and high school, so a secondary degree gives you two levels of job postings to apply to. The usual road is a four-year secondary education degree in a specific subject. If you already hold a bachelor’s degree in a teachable subject, there are shorter roads, and those are described in the license section below.

Training Pathways:

• Secondary education degree in your subject (4 years): You major in something like Mathematics Education, English Education, Biological Sciences Education, or Social Studies Education. You take the subject courses, the teaching courses, and a semester of student teaching. You come out licensed for grades 5 through 12 in that subject.
• Already have a bachelor’s degree in the subject (1 to 3 years): This is the shortest real road. If your degree is in math, English, biology, chemistry, or history, the ESPB Alternate Access License can put you in a classroom in a documented shortage area for up to three years while you finish the teaching coursework. There are also master’s licensure programs built for exactly this — NDSU’s M.Ed. Teacher Licensure Option is one.
• Two-year college first, then transfer (4 years total): You can do your general education at a North Dakota two-year college for far less money, then transfer into a four-year education program. NDSCS has a liberal arts transfer track built for this. You still finish the bachelor’s degree and the student teaching; you just pay less for the first half.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — secondary education majors for grades 5 to 12 in Mathematics Education, English Education, Biological Sciences Education, Chemistry Education, Physics Education, Comprehensive Science Education, Social Studies Education, Spanish Education, Business Education, Agricultural Education, Family and Consumer Sciences Education, and Health Education, plus K-12 licensure in Art, Music, and Physical Education — ndsu.edu/education/teacher-education
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — M.Ed. Teacher Licensure Option, for people who already hold a bachelor’s degree in a teachable subject — ndsu.edu/education/academic-areas/k-12-teacher-preparation/med-teacher-licensure-option
• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — secondary education programs, plus an online M.S. in Teaching & Leadership with Middle/Secondary Education, Secondary Biology, and Secondary Math specializations, 30 credits, 100% online — und.edu/programs/teaching-leadership-ms
• Minot State University (Minot) — secondary teacher licensure programs, and an M.Ed. with a Secondary Mathematics or English concentration — minotstateu.edu/teu/programs.shtml
• University of Mary (Bismarck) — secondary education programs, accredited by the ND Education Standards and Practices Board — umary.edu/academics/schools/liffrig-family-school-education-and-behavioral-sciences/secondary-education
• Dickinson State University (Dickinson) — teacher education program; DSU says secondary licensure entitles the holder to teach in the major area for grades five through twelve — dickinsonstate.edu/academics/fields-of-study/soe/education/teacher-education-program/concentrations-licensures
• Valley City State University (Valley City) — teacher education program with secondary content options; VCSU requires over 150 hours of field experience before twelve weeks of student teaching — catalog.vcsu.edu/undergraduate-catalog/teacher-education-program
• Turtle Mountain College (Belcourt) — Secondary English, B.S.; Secondary Math Education, B.S.; and Secondary Science Education with a Biology or Chemistry emphasis, B.S. — tm.edu/academics
• North Dakota State College of Science (Wahpeton) — Liberal Arts transfer Associate in Arts, then transfer to a four-year school for the education courses and student teaching — catalog.ndscs.edu/liberal-arts/associate-in-arts
• Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Associate in Arts general education, designed to transfer into a four-year education degree — bismarckstate.edu

Before You Start: A high school diploma or GED to start. Real strength in the subject you want to teach — a math education major takes college calculus, a chemistry education major takes college chemistry. Teacher preparation programs also have a GPA gate partway through, before you can student teach. You need a fingerprint background check before you can be licensed or placed in a classroom.

Tip: Start with financial aid and scholarships. Fill out the FAFSA, ask the school’s financial aid office what you qualify for, and ask an employer whether they help pay for school. That is where the money starts. After that, a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota may be able to help with what is left over, like tuition, books, a laptop, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you enroll rather than after. Worth asking about specifically: two-year degrees that train you for a job, like civil engineering technology, land surveying, mechatronics, electronics, or instrumentation. North Dakota two-year colleges also cost far less than a university. Ask about paid summer internships too — engineering firms, plants, and survey crews hire students while they are still in school.

5Certification & Licensing

North Dakota licenses you personally, through the Education Standards and Practices Board. The secondary license covers grades 5 through 12 in the subject you are licensed to teach. ESPB licenses the person, not the job, and you carry the license from district to district. Small ND schools often need one teacher to cover a subject slightly outside their license, which is what the Out-of-Field endorsement is for.

The License Ladder in North Dakota:

• Initial In-State License (two years) — ESPB says it is issued to first-time applicants who have met all of the ND requirements for licensure: a bachelor’s degree from an approved teacher education program, the required Praxis tests, and a background check (nd.gov/espb)
• Two-Year Renewal License — for an educator with less than 18 months of contracted teaching in North Dakota, or who has completed probationary requirements (nd.gov/espb)
• First Five-Year License — granted after 18 months of successful full-time equivalent teaching in North Dakota (nd.gov/espb)
• Five-Year Renewal License — requires at least 30 days under contract and six semester hours of continuing education (nd.gov/espb)
• Endorsements ($80 each) — added through your ND Teach account. ESPB lists English Learner, Kindergarten, Out-of-Field, and Major Equivalency Praxis endorsements. In a small high school the Out-of-Field endorsement is common, because one teacher often has to cover a second subject (nd.gov/espb)
• Alternate Access License (one year at a time, up to three years) — the fastest real door for a career changer who already holds a bachelor’s degree, in a documented shortage area. ESPB asks for a degree in the content area or at least 30 credits in that area or a closely related one, plus a plan to finish. It renews only if you show progress and the school asks in writing (nd.gov/espb)
• Initial Interim Substitute License (two years) — ESPB issues this with a minimum of 48 semester hours of college coursework. Subbing in a high school is the cheapest honest test of whether this job is yours (nd.gov/espb)

The Exams: North Dakota requires all three Praxis Core Academic Skills for Educators tests: Reading (5713, qualifying score 156, minimum 149), Writing (5723, qualifying score 160, minimum 153), and Math (5733, qualifying score 150, minimum 143). ESPB also accepts a composite of 466 as long as no single score falls below that test’s minimum. You also take a subject test for your licensure area. ESPB does not publish those subject codes and cut scores on its testing page, and they differ by subject, so confirm the exact test and score for your subject with ESPB before you register (nd.gov/espb/licensure/testing-information).

Cost: From the ESPB fee list: initial application $30, fingerprinting $44.50, Initial In-State two-year license $85, two-year renewal $65, five-year license $140, endorsements $80 each, Alternate Access License $165, Interim Substitute License $95, transcript review $175, and a $100 late fee if a license lapses. A $5 maintenance charge is added to new applications. The four-year degree is the real cost.

Keeping It Current: ESPB renews the five-year license when you have at least 30 days under contract and six semester hours of continuing education. Districts pay more for graduate credits and a master’s degree, so summer classes usually do double duty — they renew the license and move you across the salary schedule.

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota High School Teacher Pay (May 2025) — yearly contract pay:

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $47,630–$50,260 a year
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $61,210 a year
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $74,400–$81,310 a year

What that means: Teachers are paid on a yearly contract, not by the hour, so the numbers above are yearly pay. Your district’s salary schedule is what tells you exactly what each step and each year of experience pays. The middle North Dakota high school teacher earns about $61,210 a year, against a national middle of $72,040. That is a gap of nearly $11,000, and it gets wider as you go up: the ND 75th percentile is about $74,400 while the national 75th is about $92,570, and the ND top tenth is about $81,310 against a national top tenth of $107,600. Read that plainly — North Dakota pays high school teachers less than the country does, and the gap is biggest for experienced teachers. Starting pay here is closer to national starting pay than veteran pay is to national veteran pay. What you get in return is a low cost of living, a public salary schedule you can look up before you apply, real health insurance, and a pension. Pay rises with years taught and with graduate credits, and coaching and club stipends add on top of the contract.

Jobs in North Dakota: About 2,580 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 2,740 (about 6% growth). Expect about 180 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 2% decline.

Outlook: Good. O*NET shows North Dakota going from about 2,580 high school teachers in 2024 to about 2,740 in 2034, roughly 6% growth, with about 180 openings a year. Nationally this job is shrinking about 2%, so ND is moving the opposite direction from the country. One hundred and eighty openings a year is a solid number, and it is the largest of the four careers on this page. Your subject matters more than anything else here. Math, science, and special education are the hardest jobs for North Dakota schools to fill, and a licensed math or science teacher can be choosy about where they live. English and social studies are more crowded. Rural districts hire hardest of all, and many of them pay a little more than you would expect because they have to.

Who Hires in ND: Public school districts across North Dakota, tribal and Bureau of Indian Education schools, and Catholic and other private high schools. Many smaller ND districts run one building for grades 7 through 12, so a high school job there often comes with middle school classes attached — which your 5-12 license already covers.

Work Setting: Your own classroom, with a different group of students in it every fifty minutes. School calendar, roughly late August through late May, summers off unless you teach summer school or work another job. Add hall duty, lunch duty, study hall, parent-teacher conference evenings, and supervising ball games and dances. Most ND high school teachers also coach or advise, which means evenings, weekends, and long bus rides across the state in season.

Physical Demands: Moderate. You are on your feet and moving most of the day, but you are not lifting anything heavy. What actually wears out is your voice, from projecting to a room five or six times a day, and your evenings, from grading. A science teacher is up and down between lab benches all period. If you coach, add standing outside in North Dakota weather.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 25-2031); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: Subject Teacher — Teach your subject and get genuinely good at it.

Path 2: Department Chair — Lead the math, science, or English department.

Path 3: Dual Credit Instructor — Teach college-credit courses in the high school.

Path 4: Head Coach or Activities Director — Turn coaching into a bigger role.

Path 5: Instructional Coordinator — Leave the classroom and support other teachers.

Path 6: High School Principal — Add a master’s degree and lead a building.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• You go deep in one subject you actually care about
• Students are old enough for real conversations and real arguments
• About 180 ND openings a year — the most of the four jobs on this page
• A 5-12 license also qualifies you for middle school jobs
• Math and science teachers are genuinely in demand in North Dakota
• A school calendar, real benefits, and a pension

What's Hard:

• ND pay trails the country by about $11,000 at the middle, and more at the top
• Grading 120 essays or labs follows you home every week
• Some students have decided your subject is useless and you cannot fix that by caring harder
• Coaching and club duties eat evenings and weekends in season
• In a small ND school you may teach three different courses, not one
• A four-year degree, Praxis tests, and a background check before you start

Be Honest: Do you love one subject enough to teach it five times a day for twenty years? Can you keep your grading from burying you? Can you stay steady and fair with a seventeen-year-old who is deliberately trying to get a reaction out of you? And can you look at North Dakota’s pay numbers, see that they trail the country, and still say yes?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your High School Teacher Assessment Results