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Boston Career Explorer

Management

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary

Plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools.

Also called: Athletic Director, Curriculum and Instruction Superintendent, Curriculum Director, Elementary Principal, K-12 Principal (Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Principal), MS Principal (Middle School Principal)

Compare with my current job (School Psychologists)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$131,080
Jobs in Greater Boston
7,260
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+2.1%
680 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Master's degree
5 years or more of related work experience

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$82,850$105,040$131,080$140,420$167,190

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Counsel and provide guidance to students regarding personal, academic, vocational, or behavioral issues.
  • Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities, policies, and student behavior or learning problems.
  • Observe teaching methods and examine learning materials to evaluate and standardize curricula and teaching techniques and to determine areas for improvement.
  • Determine the scope of educational program offerings, and prepare drafts of course schedules and descriptions to estimate staffing and facility requirements.
  • Enforce discipline and attendance rules.
  • Recruit, hire, train, and evaluate primary and supplemental staff.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Higher exposure76 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 75
  • Language-model AIOE 81
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 73

Observed AI use today: Some (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is on the higher side, and some workers already use AI tools. Tools can help with drafting course schedules, estimating staffing, and reviewing learning materials. Counseling students, meeting with parents, and enforcing discipline and attendance rules rely on judgment and relationships. Massachusetts job growth is projected at 2.1%.

Likely to change

  • Drafting course schedules and descriptions
  • Reviewing learning materials and curricula

Still relies on people

  • Counseling students on personal and academic issues
  • Meeting with parents and staff about concerns

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

3 programs near Boston (plus 26 graduate)

Related occupations

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