You can read about each topic in Wake FYI and then discuss the topics with other community members at the Wake Regional Education Roundtable, sponsored by Wake Education Partnership and the Chambers of Commerce in Wake County. For more information about the Roundtable series, or to view past editions of Wake FYI, please go to our website: www.WakeEdPartnership.org.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION: North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey
North Carolina was the first state in the country to survey all of its teachers on the conditions under which they work each day. The survey was first conducted in 2002 and has been repeated biennially since then, most recently in spring 2006.
The survey assesses teachers’ views on five major domains: leadership, professional development, time, facilities and resources, and empowerment. Analysis of the data shows relationships between student achievement, teacher retention and the scores on the survey domains.
Because retaining good teachers and ensuring success for all students are important, this month’s Wake FYI takes a closer look at the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey.
FAQ on the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey
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Who takes the survey and how is it administered?
The survey is administered every two years to all teachers and administrators in North Carolina . The first survey in 2002 was a paper and pencil survey; in 2004 the survey was administered online for the first time.
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What types of questions are asked?
All questions are multiple choice; the first survey had fewer than fifty questions and the number has increased with each administration to allow for more detailed data to be collected.
The majority of the survey questions have responses listed on a 1 to 5 Likert scale. This allows respondents, for example, to express whether they Strongly Disagree with a statement (a score of 1) up to Strongly Agree (a score of 5).
The 2006 survey contained questions in the five original working conditions domains (leadership, professional development, time, facilities and resources, and empowerment) as well as, for the first time, a section on mentoring for new teachers.
- What topics are discussed in each of the five domains?
Each domain is the compilation of questions all related to similar issues.
Working Conditions Survey Domain |
This
domain includes questions |
Empowerment |
• Teacher involvement in critical school decisions such as the hiring of other teachers and determining budget priorities • Trust in teachers as instructional leaders |
Facilities & Resources |
• The level of technology in the school • Access to resources ranging from pens and photocopiers to communications equipment necessary to reach parents • The safety and maintenance levels of the school building |
Leadership |
• Shared decision-making • Shared vision • The effectiveness of School Improvement Teams • The extent to which school administrators effectively and consistently enforce expectations and appropriately evaluate and support teachers |
Professional Development |
• The type and quality of professional development teachers receive • How much input teachers have in what professional development is offered • How much of an impact professional development has on their instruction |
Time |
• Time for teachers to work with students • Time for teachers to engage in collaboration with their colleagues and in meaningful professional development • Manageable class sizes and overall student loads |
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Can survey responses be tracked back to teachers?
The survey is anonymous; participants are given a random code to access the survey online and ensure the validity of the data. The code identifies a specific school, but not a specific teacher or administrator.
- What does a district or school need to do to see its results?
District-level reports are available for all school systems with a 30% response rate. School-level reports are generated for all schools that have a 40% response rate. Reports are available online.
Below is a comparison of domain-level averages for North Carolina and several of the largest districts from the 2006 survey. Average responses for individual survey questions are available in the district and school-level reports.
|
Time |
Facilities & Resources |
Empowerment |
Leadership |
Professional Development |
Wake |
3.05 |
3.74 |
3.45 |
3.58 |
3.36 |
State of N.C. |
3.12 |
3.65 |
3.44 |
3.60 |
3.41 |
Durham |
2.84 |
3.51 |
3.34 |
3.43 |
3.25 |
Guilford |
2.85 |
3.59 |
3.25 |
3.43 |
3.27 |
Forsyth |
3.04 |
3.66 |
3.48 |
3.64 |
3.50 |
Charlotte-Mecklenburg |
3.20 |
3.60 |
3.32 |
3.51 |
3.36 |
Chapel Hill-Carrboro |
3.08 |
3.85 |
3.29 |
3.54 |
3.24 |
- Who sponsors the survey?
The survey is supported by the North Carolina Office of the Governor. The governor’s office works in partnership with several organizations to create, advertise, and conduct the survey, and to analyze the resulting data and create tools which schools and communities can use to have the data inform school improvement efforts at the local level.
In 2006 the following organizations co-sponsored the survey:
- Office of the Governor
- North Carolina State Board of Education
- North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards Commission
- North Carolina Association of Educators
- North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
- DonorsChooseNC
- BellSouth
- Center for Teaching Quality
- North Carolina Business Committee for Education
What We’ve Learned from the NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey
2006 Wake County Results
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In 2006, Wake County had a 76 percent response rate on the survey, much improved over the 38 percent response in 2004. All schools except four have a school-level report. (The four schools without a report did not have a sufficient response rate.)
- Some of the key
findings for Wake County include:
- Leadership was by far the most important factor identified by teachers as the reason they would be willing to stay at their school and in promoting student learning at their school.
- Sixty-nine percent of teachers in Wake County believe they play no or only a small role in determining how their school’s budget is spent.
- Fifty-six percent of teachers believe their school improvement team provides effective leadership at their school.
- More than three-fourths of Wake County teachers agree that their school is a good place to work and learn.
- Sixty percent of Wake County teachers indicated they were planning to stay at their school.
2006 State Level Data
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Major findings include:
- Teacher working conditions have an impact on teacher retention.
- Teacher working conditions have improved in North Carolina and are better than in other states.
- Teachers’ perceptions of working conditions showed improvement in schools which had used prior survey results as a tool for improvement.
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Key recommendations include:
- Provide support for schools to reform teacher working conditions, including creating professional development modules on how to analyze survey data.
- Assess and bolster School Improvements Teams across the state.
- Investigate state and local impediments to positive school environments.
For More Information on the Subject of Teacher Working Conditions
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See Quality Matters 2006 for school-level teacher working conditions data and rankings, and recommendations on using the data in Wake County.
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Visit the official website for the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Initiative.
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Learn more from the Center for Teaching Quality about teacher working conditions efforts going on around the country.
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Access resources to analyze data and use it to inform your school’s improvement efforts by using the Teacher Working Conditions Toolkit.