Teachers in North Carolina's innovative high schools see the impact of change every day. They know their students well. They are finding ways to engage them in learning at new levels.
In the most recent statewide survey of teacher working conditions, teachers in innovative high schools were much more positive about their schools than high school teachers generally. Our teachers see the differences in:
- Smaller schools — The small size of the schools helps foster collaboration among faculty and staff and helps teachers build meaningful relationships with students. This collaboration and relationship building creates good working conditions in innovative high schools.
- Strong collaboration — Teachers in the innovative high schools were empowered as instructional leaders, and principals in innovative high schools took active roles as strong instructional leaders. In fact, teachers and principals in the schools met on a regular basis to discuss student learning.
- Professional support — Relevant professional development improved teacher capacity to provide rigorous instruction. Overwhelming numbers of teachers in innovative high schools agreed that the professional development they were receiving was useful in improving their instruction. Several of the teachers at the study schools discussed the professional development around creating a professional learning community as being particularly useful.
Hear directly from teachers about why NCNSP schools offer a better vision for success below.
