By Art Padilla WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH (December 10, 2025) – When the Ida and William Friday Building at UNC–Charlotte was dedicated in 1982, Wilma Thornburg—Bill Friday’s elementary school teacher—sat on the platform between the Fridays as their proud guest. She had taught Bill in nearby Dallas, North Carolina, long before he became UNC’s iconic president. But… READ MORE
NC’s educator pipeline: Urgent need for state action
By Dr. Deanna Townsend-Smith Dudley Flood Center for Educational Equity & Opportunity RALEIGH (December 10, 2025) – In December 2019, North Carolina made a bold and necessary commitment to focus statewide attention on the actions required to recruit and retain a diverse educator workforce. The Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision for Education (DRIVE) Task… READ MORE
Good news for a change for NC’s teacher workforce
By David Rice Executive Editor Public Ed Works RALEIGH (November 20, 2025) – At last, there’s some good news for North Carolina’s teacher workforce. Enrollment in the NC Teaching Fellows program, which offers forgivable college loans to aspiring teachers who teach certain subjects, continues to climb dramatically. Dr. Ashton Clemmons, Associate Vice President of the… READ MORE
Lessons Learned: NC struggles to recruit and retain teachers
By Amy Cockerham Public Ed Works RALEIGH (September 17, 2025) – Thousands of teachers leave North Carolina classrooms every year – and legislators ignoring the needs of educators could be to blame. Low pay and lack of respect, among other problems, are cited as reasons why school districts have trouble filling teaching positions. The latest… READ MORE
Teaching Fellows build their numbers
RALEIGH (January 30, 2025) – In a state with a severe teacher shortage,1 the NC Teaching Fellows made substantial gains this year, with 107% growth to a total of 575 students who want to become teachers. “We’re very excited about that. That’s a huge celebration for our program,” Dr. Bennett Jones, Director of the Teaching Fellows… READ MORE
4,400 invisible teachers
RALEIGH (September 1, 2022) – More than 1.3 million students started the public school year in North Carolina this week. Yet more than 4,400 teachers who should have been at the front of those children’s classes weren’t there, because school officials couldn’t fill the vacancies. And 3,600 more teachers across the state still aren’t fully… READ MORE
2 + 2 = Teachers!
RALEIGH (August 27, 2021) – State education leaders sealed an agreement this week to expand a program for aspiring teachers to start their education at a North Carolina community college and finish at one of the state’s public universities. Thomas Stith III, President of the NC Community College System, and UNC System President Peter Hans… READ MORE
HELP WANTED: Teachers of Color
RALEIGH – What’s wrong with this picture? Last year, 53% of the public school students in North Carolina were students of color – yet nearly 80% of their teachers were white.1 “North Carolina’s educator workforce has been unable to match this rich diversity,” says a new report from the Developing a Representative and Inclusive Vision… READ MORE
Teachers come first
RALEIGH – Gov. Roy Cooper’s recommended budget for 2018-19 heads in the right direction by prioritizing education over tax cuts and offering an average raise of 8% to North Carolina teachers, whose pay ranked 37th in the country in a recent survey.1 The two-year budget state legislators adopted last year included average raises for K-12… READ MORE
Strong support for raising NC teacher pay
HIGH POINT – A poll released last week revealed overwhelming support among Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated North Carolinians for raising public school teacher pay to the national average. So if it’s a political slam dunk, why don’t legislators do it? The High Point University Poll found that 85 percent of North Carolinians agree that public… READ MORE