Curriculum & Instruction

Types of Degrees Curriculum & Instruction Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many curriculum and instruction graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	16,825
Graduate Certificate	1,525
Doctor’s Degree	1,434
Bachelor’s Degree	34
Basic Certificate	11
Associate Degree	3

What Curriculum & Instruction Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to curriculum were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Curriculum Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in curriculum should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Skills for Curriculum Majors

When studying curriculum, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Curriculum Majors

Curriculum majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What Can You Do With a Curriculum & Instruction Major?

People with a curriculum degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Instructional Coordinators	10.5%	$64,450
Instructional Designers and Technologists	10.5%	$64,450

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Curriculum & Instruction?

This is one of the most frequently chosen teaching majors. It is the 13th most popular in the country with 34 students graduating with a bachelor’s in curriculum in 2021. This major is dominated by women with about 82% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of curriculum majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	8
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	24
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

How Much Do Curriculum & Instruction Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The median early-career salary of curriculum and instruction students with a bachelor’s degree is $41,728 a year according to 2019-2020 data from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $40,271 (25th percentile) and $54,697 (75th percentile).

We don’t know for sure if all of these people took jobs related to curriculum so take that into consideration.

Salaries According to BLS

Curriculum majors often go into careers with median salaries of $67,490. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Curriculum & Instruction

Some careers associated with curriculum require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for curriculum careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	2.0%
Bachelor’s Degree	25.4%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.0%
Master’s Degree	62.4%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	6.0%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	2.3%
Doctoral Degree	0.1%

Online Curriculum & Instruction Programs

In 2020-2021, 491 schools offered a curriculum program of some type. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	1	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	1	0
Bachelor’s Degree	68	27
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	434	136
Post-Master’s	68	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	135	17
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	2	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	2	1

Is a Degree in Curriculum & Instruction Worth It?

The median salary for a curriculum grad is $67,490 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 69% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $551,800 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Curriculum & Instruction

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to curriculum.

Major	Number of Grads
Teacher Education Grade Specific	110,226
Educational Administration	46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific	43,297
Special Education	36,792
General Education	29,810
Student Counseling	13,858
Instructional Media Design	8,695
Teaching English or French	5,791
Other Education	4,858
Teaching Assistants	2,751
Educational Assessment	2,552
Multilingual Education	1,910
Education Philosophy	737
International Education	293

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Disarnot under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.