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Educators, tell NC leaders what it’s like to do your job in this year’s Teacher Working Conditions Survey

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Educators share approaches to support beginning teachers at the State Board of Education meeting in April 2025. Liz Bell/EdNC

A survey allowing educators to report their working conditions opened Monday.

The state Department of Public Instruction (DPI), working with the nonprofit Academic Development Institute, will be administering the biennial NC Teacher Working Conditions (NCTWC) Survey through March 31.

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According to DPI, certified and non-certified teachers, as well as other licensed educators — including school counselors, media coordinators, and instructional coaches based at a school — eligible for the survey will receive a unique survey code from their school-level coordinator. DPI suggests educators speak to their school’s administrators if they don’t know who the survey coordinator is.

Principals and assistant principals receive a different survey — the NC Principal Working Conditions (NCPWC) Survey. Instructional assistants and central office personnel are not eligible for the survey, per DPI. 

Data from the anonymous survey informs improvements across the state’s education system, the survey website says. Policymakers have previously used the results in improvement plans, evaluations, and state plans for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), and Title I and Title IIA programs.

The survey’s 100 questions cover issues such as school leadership, student conduct management, safety, school facilities and resources, community support, professional development, nondiscrimination, among others. It takes about 20 minutes to complete, DPI’s website says.

“The TWC is one of the most important data points for a school and school district,” Richmond County Schools Superintendent Joe Ferrell said, as quoted on the survey website. “I have always believed that if staff feel supported, valued and heard … great things will happen for students. The TWC gives us that data so that we can continuously improve conditions for staff and, ultimately, conditions for students.”

In the 2024 survey, over 100,000 teachers completed the survey, or about 85% of eligible respondents. Nine-in-ten respondents strongly agreed or agreed that their school was “a good place to work and learn.” Roughly 80% said they planned to continue teaching at their current school the following year.

Early results from the 2024 Teacher Working Conditions Survey are in. Here’s what teachers said

The state piloted the survey across 60 schools for the first time during the 2001-2002 school year, expanding statewide in 2002. According to the survey website, North Carolina was the first state to survey its entire licensed teaching staff about their working conditions. 

Educators in need of assistance completing the survey can email SurveySupport@adi.org or contact their school administration.

News Teachers K-12
Sergio Osnaya-Prieto

Sergio Osnaya-Prieto served as EdNC’s director of communications from January 2021-November 2022, and he served as a senior reporting fellow from January 2025-May 2026.

He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and journalism from the UNC Hussman School of Media and Journalism. During his time at UNC, Sergio worked on The Daily Tar Heel’s copy and online desk and became the chief copy editor in the fall of 2020. That summer, he served as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, directing the DTH’s coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, UNC’s COVID-19 response, and racial justice protests. He has also worked as a reporter for Qué Pasa Media Network and a social media manager for Latino Communications.

In 2025, Sergio graduated with a Master of Public Administration degree with a specialization in international development from New York University’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. As a graduate student, Sergio focused on labor migration and climate displacement. He served as project assistant to NYU Wagner’s Capstone co-directors, and he worked as a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme in Colombia for his own Capstone project. In the summer of 2024, he worked with the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa as a public information intern.

Sergio lived in New York City and Mexico City before moving to Raleigh in 2012, where he attended Enloe High School and Wake Technical Community College.

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