In the spring of 2008, the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey asked all licensed educators in the state about the teaching and learning conditions in their schools. In this fourth iteration of the survey, over 104,000 (87%) of educators in the state completed the survey, and 100% of state's traditional schools have a data report online. An additional 62% of charter schools and 81% of our special schools have reports. The greatest value of the survey is in the conversation that begins when School Improvement Teams or other groups sit down and talk about their schools' results together. It is all about understanding how educators perceive the conditions in their school. Why is it important?

• Teacher working conditions are student learning conditions.
• Results from the TWC Survey are a key artifact for principal evaluations.
• Schools can and should use results to begin the conversation about how to improve teacher working conditions in order to improve student achievement and reduce teacher turnover rate. Schools that indicate they use the survey as a school improvement tool had corresponding improvement in perceptions of their working conditions.

Snapshot of Findings from 2008 TWC

What's important for high student achievement?

• Supportive school leadership
• Sufficient facilities and resources
• Time for teachers to plan and collaborate
• Time for teachers to focus on students without interruption and additional duties
• An atmosphere of trust and mutual respect
• Strong School Improvement Teams

What's important to retain teachers?

• Overall perception of the school being a good place to work and learn
• The effectiveness of the School Improvement Team
• The presence of an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect
• The ability of leadership to shield teachers from disruptions

Additional Findings:

• Educators are more positive about their working conditions for the 4th consecutive iteration
• Principals and teachers have differing perceptions on working conditions.

Have you had the conversation about working conditions at your school?

To help facilitate school conversations, the New Teacher Center has created a School Improvement Guide to support understanding and improving working conditions in your school. The guide can be downloaded as a single large document or in each of its three sections. The Facilitator's Guide is the first section. It contains the outline to a drilldown process of examination and discussion of survey results. It includes facilitator strategies for approaching the process, descriptions of how to utilize handouts and worksheets, and written prompts to lead discussions with schools staff. The Facilitator's Handouts include all documents referenced in the guide to help participants better understand how to interpret and utilize survey data. Once they are at a point of examining specific survey items, educators can use the final section, Individual Item Prompts, to help stimulate thought and dialog around the survey item being addressed.