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The differences between early childhood specialists and lead teachers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an early childhood specialist and a lead teacher. Additionally, an early childhood specialist has an average salary of $35,575, which is higher than the $33,652 average annual salary of a lead teacher.
The top three skills for an early childhood specialist include professional development, technical assistance and staff development. The most important skills for a lead teacher are CPR, customer service, and child care.
| Early Childhood Specialist | Lead Teacher | |
| Yearly salary | $35,575 | $33,652 |
| Hourly rate | $17.10 | $16.18 |
| Growth rate | 15% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 33,451 | 56,131 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Average age | 40 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An early childhood specialist is responsible for managing the activities of young learners, monitoring their learning development, and designing engaging activities to observe their personal and social behaviors. Early childhood specialists assist the parents and the teachers of a child with administering programs that would expose their skills and their ability to solve basic problem-solving tasks. They coordinate with the parents to provide them progress updates and adjust learning strategies as needed depending on the child's performance.
The Lead Teacher works with parents to resolve student issues and train new teachers on effective teaching techniques. A Lead Teacher is a licensed teacher with extensive teaching experience and preferably has a master's in education or related studies. They are an integral part of a school's faculty and the principal's arm in drafting policies for implementation.
Early childhood specialists and lead teachers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Early Childhood Specialist | Lead Teacher | |
| Average salary | $35,575 | $33,652 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $50,000 | Between $22,000 And $50,000 |
| Highest paying City | Harrison, NY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | California |
| Best paying company | Edmonds Community College, Lynnwood | Success Preparatory Academy |
| Best paying industry | Professional | - |
There are a few differences between an early childhood specialist and a lead teacher in terms of educational background:
| Early Childhood Specialist | Lead Teacher | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 59% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Early Childhood Education | Early Childhood Education |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | San Diego State University |
Here are the differences between early childhood specialists' and lead teachers' demographics:
| Early Childhood Specialist | Lead Teacher | |
| Average age | 40 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 12.8% Female, 87.2% | Male, 10.2% Female, 89.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 5.6% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 3.5% White, 72.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 12% |