Question for APSVA teachers - moving up the salary pay scale

[Anonymous]

APSVA teachers -- how hard is it to move from MA to MA+30 and do you feel it is worthwhile?

Can you get tuition reimbursement from the county?

Also -- what is the difference between T-Scale (teacher salary) and CAP 1 scale?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also -- what is the difference between T-Scale (teacher salary) and CAP 1 scale?

Oh my goodness! OP here. So the CAP-1 scale is for teachers for voluntarily go through a local portfolio process, but I am seeing that only about 7 teachers per year succeed in this? It's a very small number?

And then the CAP-2 scale is for those teachers who did both the local portfolio option and NBPTS?

I am in a neighboring school district comparing teacher salary scales for experienced teachers, and am trying to understand how easy or hard it is to advance in different systems; that's the reason for my questioning!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APSVA teachers -- how hard is it to move from MA to MA+30 and do you feel it is worthwhile?

Can you get tuition reimbursement from the county?

Also -- what is the difference between T-Scale (teacher salary) and CAP 1 scale?

[/quote

I'm confused about your question. How hard is it to move from MA to MA+30? That's 30 more credits, basically another masters degree. How hard that is depends on many factors. Think about doing your masters again. That's how it would be. But the bump increases your salary, which in turn increases your pension. The earlier you are in your career, the better. I wouldn't go take another 30 credits if I was 50.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APSVA teachers -- how hard is it to move from MA to MA+30 and do you feel it is worthwhile?

Can you get tuition reimbursement from the county?

Also -- what is the difference between T-Scale (teacher salary) and CAP 1 scale?

I'm confused about your question. How hard is it to move from MA to MA+30? That's 30 more credits, basically another masters degree. How hard that is depends on many factors. Think about doing your masters again. That's how it would be. But the bump increases your salary, which in turn increases your pension. The earlier you are in your career, the better. I wouldn't go take another 30 credits if I was 50.

How hard is it: How picky is the school district about the type of credits you earn? Do they need to be in pursuit of a new endorsement or degree or certification? Do they question the courses you present or just accept them? How readily can you get tuition reimbursement for these classes?

The bump in salary appears to be about $6000/yearly at the top of the pay scale or $2000/yearly for those just starting out.

I'm looking at the top of the payscale:

for teachers with MA+30 = $112,000.
CAP1 teachers with MA+30 = $118,000
CAP 2 MA_+30 = $124,000. (That would require a local portfolio process plus National Board certification?)

Does that sound right?

And you have no MA+60 tier, the next step would be PhD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APSVA teachers -- how hard is it to move from MA to MA+30 and do you feel it is worthwhile?

Can you get tuition reimbursement from the county?

Also -- what is the difference between T-Scale (teacher salary) and CAP 1 scale?

I'm confused about your question. How hard is it to move from MA to MA+30? That's 30 more credits, basically another masters degree. How hard that is depends on many factors. Think about doing your masters again. That's how it would be. But the bump increases your salary, which in turn increases your pension. The earlier you are in your career, the better. I wouldn't go take another 30 credits if I was 50.

How hard is it: How picky is the school district about the type of credits you earn? Do they need to be in pursuit of a new endorsement or degree or certification? Do they question the courses you present or just accept them? How readily can you get tuition reimbursement for these classes?

The bump in salary appears to be about $6000/yearly at the top of the pay scale or $2000/yearly for those just starting out.

I'm looking at the top of the payscale:

for teachers with MA+30 = $112,000.
CAP1 teachers with MA+30 = $118,000
CAP 2 MA_+30 = $124,000. (That would require a local portfolio process plus National Board certification?)

Does that sound right?

And you have no MA+60 tier, the next step would be PhD?

APS is not picky about the +30 credits. But you can’t get them all reimbursed unless you take a while to do them- I think APS reimburses like 10 credits every 3 years- I can’t remember.

[FGDaddio]

It's college credits that are verifiable. Sometimes when you do trainings you can pay extra and get college credits (I got 3 credits for my OG training, for example). I believe that this qualifies. You don't have to have an additional degree in the +30. These courses then give you credit from an actual college that they have an agreement with, including a course title and # of credits. Not every training does this- it's usually a multi-day course (OG was 32 hours of training for example).

Here's the form:
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/18-19-Salary-Upgrade-Application.pdf

[Anonymous]

I think APS stopped doing tuition reimbursement? I heard that was the case recently.

[Anonymous]

APS is not picky about the +30 credits.

Not exactly true. I had a Master +30 with FCPS and APS did not honor all the 30 because 3 of them were from an in house 3 credit FCPS professional development class I took. On a positive note my salary did go up 16K just by switching districts. I hear the pay scale has improved for FCPS since then. If I got the +30 it would of been 20k. I have since taken another class. I have no desire to do CAPS or National Boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APSVA teachers -- how hard is it to move from MA to MA+30 and do you feel it is worthwhile?

Can you get tuition reimbursement from the county?

Also -- what is the difference between T-Scale (teacher salary) and CAP 1 scale?

I'm confused about your question. How hard is it to move from MA to MA+30? That's 30 more credits, basically another masters degree. How hard that is depends on many factors. Think about doing your masters again. That's how it would be. But the bump increases your salary, which in turn increases your pension. The earlier you are in your career, the better. I wouldn't go take another 30 credits if I was 50.

How hard is it: How picky is the school district about the type of credits you earn? Do they need to be in pursuit of a new endorsement or degree or certification? Do they question the courses you present or just accept them? How readily can you get tuition reimbursement for these classes?

The bump in salary appears to be about $6000/yearly at the top of the pay scale or $2000/yearly for those just starting out.

I'm looking at the top of the payscale:

for teachers with MA+30 = $112,000.
CAP1 teachers with MA+30 = $118,000
CAP 2 MA_+30 = $124,000. (That would require a local portfolio process plus National Board certification?)

Does that sound right?

And you have no MA+60 tier, the next step would be PhD?

No Masters + 60- but that would be really great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS is not picky about the +30 credits.

Not exactly true. I had a Master +30 with FCPS and APS did not honor all the 30 because 3 of them were from an in house 3 credit FCPS professional development class I took. On a positive note my salary did go up 16K just by switching districts. I hear the pay scale has improved for FCPS since then. If I got the +30 it would of been 20k. I have since taken another class. I have no desire to do CAPS or National Boards.

They clearly state the conditions for the credits- must be from a regionally accredited university. They aren’t picky if you follow the guidelines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS is not picky about the +30 credits.

Not exactly true. I had a Master +30 with FCPS and APS did not honor all the 30 because 3 of them were from an in house 3 credit FCPS professional development class I took. On a positive note my salary did go up 16K just by switching districts. I hear the pay scale has improved for FCPS since then. If I got the +30 it would of been 20k. I have since taken another class. I have no desire to do CAPS or National Boards.

They clearly state the conditions for the credits- must be from a regionally accredited university. They aren’t picky if you follow the guidelines.

Exactly- I took undergrad level classes at NOVA and they counted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS is not picky about the +30 credits.

Not exactly true. I had a Master +30 with FCPS and APS did not honor all the 30 because 3 of them were from an in house 3 credit FCPS professional development class I took. On a positive note my salary did go up 16K just by switching districts. I hear the pay scale has improved for FCPS since then. If I got the +30 it would of been 20k. I have since taken another class. I have no desire to do CAPS or National Boards.

They clearly state the conditions for the credits- must be from a regionally accredited university. They aren’t picky if you follow the guidelines.

I'm not the pP but I did see the guidelines stated the credits must be related to the development of the employee as a teacher. School districts could be more or less lenient with the subject matter being studied. For example, I'm an ESOL teacher... a course in teaching elementary math would probably be acceptable, but would a course on the History of Math count or is that more for general interest? I'm not asking, but that's an example where some school districts might be more particular than others in what counts either for reimbursement or for salary advancement.

[Anonymous]

Related question--does the raise that APS teachers are getting include the raise that Youngkin pushed through? Or will that be additional?

[Anonymous]

isn't this a question for HR, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:isn't this a question for HR, OP?

"How difficult do you make it for teachers to achieve the highest level on your pay scale?"

NO, I want to hear from teachers for that answer.

It seems the CAP-1 and CAP -2 Payscales get quite high (for teachers) but if not a lot of teachers can actually get on that payscale, it is less impressive..