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If you care about teacher morale in North Carolina, this data is worth a look

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A teacher in Perquimans County Schools celebrates good work with one of her students. Rupen Fofaria/EducationNC

Education Week recently released its Teacher Morale Index, which helps us understand how teachers in North Carolina and across the United States feel about their profession.

What matters to our teachers? Pay, of course, but also acknowledgment of hard work and successes, more school counselors and support for mental health, fewer meetings, caps on class size, and, yes, stricter rules on cell phone use. So far, 58% of respondents in North Carolina said integration of artificial intelligence (AI) is not impacting morale.

According to the report, “In the 2024-25 school year, the national Teacher Morale Index is +18 on a scale of -100 to +100, suggesting that teachers, overall, view their jobs more positively than negatively. That score is a significant climb from last year’s -13.” In North Carolina, the index is +22, higher than the national average.

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You can see the North Carolina responses to the questions below. Here you can see the interactive data on Education Week’s site, which allows you to see NC in comparison to other states. All graphics are courtesy of Education Week.

Other than a pay raise, what type of change would be most likely to improve your morale at work?

What changes to school leadership would improve your morale at work a lot? Select all that apply.

Select all that apply. My morale at work would improve a lot if my district/school hired more:

What scheduling shifts would improve your morale at work a lot? Select all that apply.

How school climate and culture changes could improve teacher morale

How — if at all — would the following rules/policies impact your morale at work?

How changes to instructional and pedagogical priorities could improve teacher morale

In order to improve your morale, does your school need to emphasize the following curricular/pedagogical approaches less or more?

About Education Week’s Teacher Morale Index

According to Education Week, “The Teacher Morale Index provides a broad, 360-degree view of teachers’ prior, present, and predicted perceptions of their workplace conditions and experiences. The Index, which is based on three survey questions that first appeared on the 2023-24 The State of Teaching survey — and were asked again on the 2024-25 survey — is scored on a scale of -100 to +100, with negative scores indicating lower morale and positive scores indicating higher morale.”