RALEIGH, NC (June 14, 2022) – The State Board of Education, the Professional Educator Preparation and Standards Commission (PEPSC), and the NC Department of Public Instruction have been developing a draft new teacher licensure system, Pathways to Excellence for Teaching Professionals (Model). This is important work as it relates to the recruitment and retention of a highly-qualified and diverse teaching workforce in North Carolina.
During the last week of May and the first week of June, the Public School Forum of NC conducted a series of 7 focus groups with over 120 participants from 57 counties and 15 EPPs across the state to collect, synthesize, and share representative feedback from principals, district leaders (including human resources directors and superintendents), educator preparation programs, board of education members, and others who will be impacted by or responsible for the implementation of the draft Model. The Forum provided each participant with a video introduction with graphics developed by DPI with Tom Tomberlin explaining the video and a graphic organizer to help participants organize their thoughts about the draft Model.
The questions about Pathways to Excellence for Teaching Professionals to guide the focus group discussions included:
- What do you like?
- What challenges do you see?
- What questions do you have?
- What additional resources will you need to implement this Model?
- How do we fix or change the Model to address the challenges?
Dr. Mary Ann Wolf, the Public School Forum of NC’s Executive Director shared that “This is very important work that will ultimately affect every educator and teacher candidate across NC – and thus, every student in NC. The Forum worked with partners across the state to garner input from principals, district leaders, school board members, and educator preparation program representatives to complement the input collected from teachers. The Forum is very appreciative to the many leaders who shared their time and expertise to provide input on the Draft Model. Given the very busy time of year, this is indicative of the importance they place on this work.”
Key themes developed throughout the focus group discussions and can be reviewed in the Summary Slide Deck or in more detail in the Policy to Practice Brief.
“The input we received was thought-provoking and balanced and provided strengths, specific questions to consider, tangible recommendations to address challenges, and resources needed based upon the draft Model,” noted Dr. Wolf.
Overall, participants appreciated the opportunities for growth and career advancement, along with the potential for higher compensation and starting salary. Participants also liked including alternative entry points and pathways to becoming an educator and having access to professional advancement funds.
Members of the focus group also identified a number of challenges as it relates to implementation. Most notably, participants are concerned about the complexity and whether stakeholders (including the state, districts, schools, and EPPS) have the human capacity and fiscal resources necessary to implement the model.
Dr. Kathy Spencer, Executive Director of the Southeast Alliance and former Superintendent of Onslow County Schools, shared “As the state of NC considers new and innovative ways to address challenges in staffing K-12 classrooms with strong educators committed to serving students and families, we must all be mindful that change in our prior systems can generate unintended consequences. With this in mind, a high degree of input and consideration of impacts and implementation provided by those in the field, before mandated statewide, is critical for educators educators and leaders to achieve success with any new processes, but especially in this very complex system.”
Participants also had concerns about standard implementation across schools and districts, including the evaluation process and how to handle schools that may not have enough higher level teachers.
As a result, our stakeholders indicated they would need more resources in order to successfully implement the current model, including greater human capacity and fiscal resources.
Our data, analysis, and recommendations can be found in the following:
This work has been shared with the State Board of Education and PEPSC leadership and with the general public across the state.
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