Providing students access to effective teachers is a challenge that school districts all over the nation face. Students from high poverty environments and rural settings have less access than their counterparts to effective teachers at disproportionate rates. This disproportionality may present as an insurmountable barrier for some youth in…

The number of low-performing schools has drastically increased since COVID-19. During the 2018-2019 school year, there were 488 low-performing schools (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2024). The number increased to 736 schools during the 2023- 2024 school year, a 50.8% increase (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction,…

This study investigates how teacher-student relationships develop. If a teacher is able to foster high-quality relationships with all students, will students work harder in the classroom? An understanding of how teacher-student relationships develop is critical to answering that question. In this investigation, the authors follow a holistic case…

In this program description, we examined the impact of East Carolina University's educator preparation program on beginning special educators' preparedness and confidence to meet professional standards and fulfill their job responsibilities using Q methodology. For this work, undergraduate interns who were enrolled in a rural-focused teacher…

The North Carolina legislature has mandated establishing school/university partnership lab schools. Partnership schools may help to drive school improvement efforts; however, educators have been forced to adopt multiple initiatives aimed at the improvement of K-12 education and teacher preparation. The likelihood of teachers and professors yet…

National Board Certification (NBC) is a voluntary yet advanced teaching credential that goes beyond the typical state licensure requirement (NEA, 2015). The purpose of this study is to determine the perspectives of teachers who have completed and achieved NBC, and specifically how it has impacted them as classroom teachers. Using data collected…

This study explored K-4 teachers and school district curriculum leadership's understanding of and inclination to implement culturally relevant pedagogy as a framework for teaching reading, especially for African American students. This qualitative study sought the potential basis that teachers and educational leaders retain from their experiences…

The growing emphasis on teacher leadership has been recognized in scholarly literature as well as in professional teaching standards. A survey of 493 public school teachers throughout North Carolina was distributed to identify leadership behaviors across settings and situations (Von Dohlen, 2012). Teacher leadership behaviors were grouped…

Educators in PK-12 schools were surveyed to seek their perceptions of colleagues who they considered informal teacher leaders, defined as leaders who were not appointed to a leadership role by a school or district administrator. The survey asked administrators, educational specialists, and teachers working in PK-12 schools across four states to…

Providing teachers with data-driven feedback, aligned professional development and opportunities for advancement may help limit attrition, contribute to more effective teaching, and improve student learning. However, research shows that much of the professional development teachers currently receive does not improve either teacher or student…

The term teacher leadership is one that can refer to a differing set of skills and understandings, depending on the context in which it is employed. Providing leadership in a classroom, for example, can be quite different from providing leadership to the profession. Many states, including North Carolina, have developed leadership standards for…

The Teacher Leaders Corps had many strengths and was fairly successful in reaching its implementation and short-term goals. Central training quality was considered strong and attendance rates were high (especially in Years 1 and 2). Of those who began the TLC work in 2013-14, approximately 60% participated all three years. At the school level,…

This brief draws on a study of teacher working conditions and their relationship to teacher retention and school performance in North Carolina. It is part of a series of studies conducted by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI)--in collaboration with WestEd and the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University--as…

When Okema Owens Simpson, the sixth-grade Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL) for English language arts (ELA) at Ranson IB Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina, plans her schedule for the coming week, she provides what her teachers need most: daily, on-the-job coaching; lesson planning; practice in delivering lessons; co-teaching or modeling a…

Teachers, school specialists, and school administrators were asked to complete a qualitative survey on informal teacher leaders, defined as teacher leaders who have not been appointed to a designated leadership role by a school or district administrator. The survey results include respondents' perceptions of personal characteristics, knowledge and…