How To Become A Curriculum Specialist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a curriculum specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Debbie Azevedo Ed.D.,

Maria Salazar Ph.D.

Curriculum specialists help teachers and instructors by helping create and revise materials used in the classroom. They help develop and improve instructional materials used in the classroom. These materials could be textbooks, workbooks, projects, or even instructional software. You will also be required to analyze the current curriculum framework to determine if they are effective.

Some of your duties include creating and revising exams, scoring guides and unit plans, setting goals for each area of the curriculum to be covered by the teachers, and helping teachers integrate technology into their instruction. In addition, you will also be expected to monitor district performance by analyzing data and interpreting statistics about the curriculum.

Some useful skills for this role are critical thinking, leadership, decision, communication, interpersonal relationships, and instructional skills. Curriculum specialists earn an average of $25.25 per hour and a total of $52,526 annually. It is important that you have an undergraduate degree in education or elementary education and then proceed to get your teaching certificate, after which you can get an advanced degree and some teaching experience.

What general advice would you give to a curriculum specialist?

Debbie Azevedo Ed.D.

Assistant Professor of Practice, Website

Curriculum and Instruction graduates should embrace technology and stay current with educational trends. The educational field is constantly changing, and graduates can keep up with the latest research and educational technology by attending conferences, subscribing to journals, and attending professional development. Being up to date on the latest educational technology can support graduates in enhancing their learning and streamlining curriculum development.

ScoreCurriculum SpecialistUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $50,949

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.74%

Asian 5.43%

Black or African American 11.86%

Hispanic or Latino 16.59%

Unknown 4.21%

White 61.17%

Gender

female 77.14%

male 22.86%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.5

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a curriculum specialist

Explore curriculum specialist education requirements

Most common curriculum specialist degrees

Bachelor's

56.8 %

Master's

31.4 %

Associate

5.3 %

Start to develop specific curriculum specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Math	7.92%
Curriculum Development	7.54%
K-12	7.10%
Mathematics	4.47%
PowerPoint	4.26%

Complete relevant curriculum specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New curriculum specialists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a curriculum specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real curriculum specialist resumes.

Research curriculum specialist duties and responsibilities

Lead efforts to establish goals for foreign language department's continuous improvement.
Lead the virtualization of military training exercises and provide periods of instruction using virtual simulations.
Coordinate testing, modele lessons for teachers, and implement the language arts program.
Develop and implement art infuse literacy program for kindergarten classes

Prepare your curriculum specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your curriculum specialist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a curriculum specialist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable curriculum specialist resume templates

Build a professional curriculum specialist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your curriculum specialist resume.

Apply for curriculum specialist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a curriculum specialist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do curriculum specialists rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Curriculum specialist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2020

Pros

My passion to help other teachers and leaders become aware how our worl is changing everyday. I am a positive agent of change and has 10+ experience with an excellent professional and education background to be a great fit for this position.

Cons

I do not like when teachers feel the tracing is repetitive and does not participate or actively engage in the activities that can address their instructional practices and strategies.