teacher recruitment

Education is a labor-intensive industry, and our public schools provide outstanding employment opportunities for a wide range of workers.  Last year, North Carolina’s public school districts and charter schools employed…

This month, the New Teacher Center released results from the 2018 North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey.  The survey is conducted every two years and captures the opinions of…

The State Board of Education received the 2016-17 State of the Teaching Profession in North Carolina report last week.  The report summarizes the attrition and mobility of public school…

Media outlets reported that enrollment in UNC education schools increased last year.  WUNC initially reported that it was a 16 percent jump, but according to WRAL, the actual…

RALEIGH – The average North Carolina teacher already earns $2,700 more each year than her average peers across the country, once their pay is adjusted for cost of living and…

Adjusted for cost of living, pension contribution, and teacher experience, the state’s average teacher salary is $993 higher than the U.S. adjusted median salary and $2,733 higher than the U.S. adjusted average salary. There is little evidence that a higher average salary or better benefits will, in any significant way, improve recruitment and increase retention of teachers. A system of merit-based pay would provide an incentive for highly qualified individuals to enter and stay in the teaching profession.

A recent report published by the NC Center for Public Policy Research concludes that North Carolina is facing a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention. But neither the data on projected student enrollment growth nor teacher retention rates justify such a harsh assessment. Clearly teacher recruitment and retention is a challenge that will always have to be met. The best approach is to reward those teachers who best foster achievement and to differentiate salaries among teachers according to supply and demand conditions in different disciplines.