i am very skeptical of a third-year teacher making $90K. it does, of course, depend on where she is – would have to be a very expensive urban market, like LA, San Fran, or NY. otherwise i simply would not believe that’s what she’s making, if all she’s doing is teaching.
now there are, of course, specific subject areas of teaching which are in desperate need of teachers, and for this reason, there are special incentives that pay well (still, i have a hard time believing 90K). does she teach something unusual/nontraditional?
if you’re going into teaching and want to know how to increase your income potential, consider these:
-become qualified to teach in a subject area that has a strong need
-get an advanced degree
-agree to take on extra-curriculars (could include coaching)
-once you have the required amount of experience under your belt, agree to participate as a “mentor” to novice teachers
-tutor on your own time (schools and school systems might have a policy about whether you are allowed to charge for tutoring students in your own school)
many mistakenly assume that teachers in elite expensive independent schools make a lot of money. this is usually not the case. the majority of independent school teachers – myself included – could make significantly more in their own local public schools, but choose not to – it is the trade-off of the professionalism with which we are treated, and not having to deal w/ the BS and bureaucracy of the public schools.