Under the leadership of State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum, with the support of the South Carolina Department of Education's Division of Teaching Quality (DTQ) and the South Carolina Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement (CERRA), South Carolina became only the second state in the nation to study teacher working conditions statewide by surveying those whose opinion matters most on these issues --teachers themselves. In Spring 2004, teachers were asked questions about time, facilities and resources, empowerment, leadership, professional development, and mentoring and induction; all of which have been shown to have an impact on whether teachers stay in chools and most importantly, whether students learn. Findings from this report support the importance of identifying and discussing teacher working conditions. Significant and compelling connections between working conditions and student achievement were documented. Ensuring a qualified teacher for every student is not enough to close the achievement gap. Teachers must have the resources and support they need to serve all students well, and without comprehensive and sustained efforts to improve teacher working conditions, much of the state's notable school reform efforts could go unfulfilled. The following is appended: Statistical Models Analyzing the Connections between Teacher Working Conditions, Student Achievement and Teacher Retention. (Contains 13 figures & 3 tables.) (Contains 51 endnotes.)