"As a school leader, I acknowledge that having a quality teacher in every classroom is the most impactful strategy to increase student achievement. The NC TWC Survey is an important tool I use as a school leader to improve school culture and climate for teachers so they have the powerful resources and learning environments to meet the diverse needs of all students."

TJ Worrell

Charter POY 

The TWC is one of the most important data points for a school and school district. 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.

Dr. Joe Ferrell

Superintendent, Sandhills Region

The Purpose of the Survey

• The NC TWC Survey is an anonymous statewide survey of teachers (certified and non-certified) and other licensed, school-based educators to understand teaching conditions at the school, district, and state levels.
• All information, access to the survey, the results, and resources are online at https://www.nctwcs.org
• The 2024 survey will be live from March 1-31, 2024.
• Educators can access the survey anytime, anywhere, via any Internet-enabled device using an individual, confidential survey link that has been sent to the individual's email.
• The survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete.   

• The agency is being responsive to feedback from educators and implementing several changes in the survey:
   - Reducing the number of survey questions from 199 to 100
   - Adding optional demographic questions to enhance data and better serve district and state leaders in decision-making
   - Emailing educators directly with a one-time survey link and providing regular reminders
   - Providing survey data back to school and district leaders as soon as possible

• The state’s education leaders want to ensure that every educator has the supportive environment necessary to help students achieve at the highest level.

• The survey provides data for school and district improvements to be used along with other data points such as student achievement and growth, percent poverty level, teacher turnover rate, etc. Results are also expected to inform state-level policy.

• Research associated with the NC TWC Survey results has shown strong connections to student achievement and to teacher retention. Over the past 20 years, state policymakers have incorporated the use of the NC TWC Survey results in various strategies for school and district improvement including annual school and district improvement plans, the evaluation of administrators, the state’s plan for the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Title I and Title IIA programs, and the state’s Equity Plan. 

Supporting educators starts with asking about the teaching conditions needed to do their jobs well. The questions are objective and externally validated.

The following changes have been made:
   • Reordered domains so Retention and School Leadership are first
   • School Safety shifted to Safety & Wellbeing
   • Facilities & Resources is now about whether a school's physical environment is sufficient for quality instruction
   • Professional Learning is now asking about top three needs for areas of professional development
   • Instructional Supports & Practices are now about top three needs for support and the NCEES process
   • Teacher Leadership is now aligned to Standard 1 (Teachers Leading in the Classroom and School) 
   • You can find the revised survey on our website under resources → “Survey Questions for Educators

• All classroom teachers (certified and non-certified) and licensed school-based educators (e.g., school counselor, school psychologist, social worker, media coordinator, instructional coaches, etc.) in the state.
NOTE: School Principals and Assistant Principals should NOT take the survey. This is because NCDPI is working with these audiences in 2024 to develop a *NEW* NC Principal Working Conditions Survey to pilot during the 2024-25 school year. 

• Public K-12 schools (i.e., traditional, charter, lab, residential) under the authority of NCDPI are the focus of the NC TWC Survey.
• Preschools with an NC school identification number can also be included.
• If your school has not received information about the 2024 survey, an administrator should contact Survey Support to register. 

The NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) has contracted with Academic Development Institute (ADI) to administer the NC TWC Survey.

No. The NC TWC Survey is to assess the working conditions of licensed school-based educators.

No, only classroom teachers (certified and non-certified) and licensed, school-based educators.

• Because NCDPI wants to reduce the data collection burden on teachers, it is preferred that each teacher only complete the survey for their base school. If approved by the district NC TWC School-Level Coordinator, teachers have the option to take it at any other school that they serve where they spend enough time to be able to assess the teaching and learning conditions in that school.
• If approved by the district NC TWC School-Level Coordinator, teachers have the option to take it at any other school that they serve where they spend enough time to be able to assess the teaching and learning conditions in that school.
• Teachers who serve multiple schools can take a survey for each school if they wish. The school's name will appear at the top of your NC TWC Survey email.
• If a teacher receives an email code for schools other than their base school, and does not want to participate for those schools, they should contact Survey Support. 

Accessing the Survey

• On March 1, 2024, teachers will be emailed the survey link to their school email address that is listed within the statewide student information system.
• This survey link can only be used once. If you have not completed the survey, you will receive reminder emails throughout the month of March.  
• Target respondent emails were pulled from PowerSchool using NCEES and UID combined. NCDPI then checked against LIcSal and removed duplicates.

Visit www.nctwcs.org and click on “Need Help?
• Check your junk mail or spam folder.
• Check with your NC TWC School-Level Coordinator.
• Search your email for NCTWC@adi.org
• Click on “Need Help?” at the top of the website to contact Survey Support. 

• Once the survey is completed, you will get a message letting you know it has been submitted successfully.
• You will then have the option to share your email address and school name to be entered into a drawing for a gift card or other special incentive. Participation in the drawing will in no way affect the anonymity of your survey responses.
• Each emailed survey link is unique and can only be used one time, so once you have completed the survey you may delete the email. 

Yes, absolutely! Confidentiality of responses is a TOP priority for NCDPI. A unique survey link will be generated by the survey platform and will not ever be linked directly to your email address. Each survey link can only be used one time.

No. Principals and assistant principals do NOT complete the new NC TWC Survey. This is because NC Principals and Assistant Principals will work with NCDPI to develop a *NEW* NC Principal Working Conditions Survey to pilot during the 2024-25 school year. More details to follow.

• Designated school NC TWC representatives and principals can contact the help desk to adjust headcount, report lost emails, or ask questions about the survey.
• Individual educators can contact the help desk to obtain replacement survey links and ask clarifying questions.
• Survey Support contact information can be found by clicking “Need Help?” from the menu bar at the top of this page. 

The survey questions were created by the NCDPI based on extensive feedback from educators in North Carolina and national experts. Each individual question addresses specific and relevant aspects of a teacher’s working conditions. The following activities were part of the survey revision process:
      o Facilitated external feedback sessions with teachers, principals, charter leaders, CAOs, and superintendents
      o Deployed an external survey (n=2,416) that included item-by-item review and open-ended items
      o Met with other state leaders and national experts to understand best practices for large-scale teacher surveys
      o Leveraged an internal NCDPI Working Group and NC TWC Advisory Board
      o Worked with an external survey methodology expert to conduct rigorous NC TWC Survey Revision Data Analyses including:
        - using Item Response Theory (IRT) to screen items within existing 12 domains and identify floor/ceiling effects, low correlation with domain, and IRT-based item fit
        - selecting from screened items to achieve high overall reliability and ensure domain coverage
      o Using the data from the 2024 survey, NCDPI will work with an external survey methodology expert to:
        - use Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to combine data across domains
        - validate domain structure
        - explore correlation among domains
        - ensure the measure performs similarly across school level, size, locale, and region 

• All requests for changes to the number of expected survey participants for your school must be submitted via www.nctwcs.org by the school representative or building administrator using the “Need Help?” link or by calling the toll-free number.
• Please note: Changes will only be accepted prior to and during the survey window. Once the survey closes, no educator count changes will be made.   

• This survey is not associated with NCDPI or NC TWC. It's the National Teacher and Principal Survey from the US Census Bureau and NCES which informs federal policy and is used by researchers to understand teacher and school leaders' perspectives in American Public Schools. It's not required but important if we want NC educators represented in that sample.

Taking the Survey

• You will receive an email to your school email address from NCTWC@adi.org on March 1, 2024. This email contains your unique survey link that you will need to click on to complete the survey.
      o Click the survey link in the email received.
      o Complete each survey question.
      o Click the submit button once all questions are answered.
      o Upon submission of the survey, you will have the option to enter your email to be included in a drawing for prizes for survey completion.
• The survey will be open March 1, 2024, until March 31, 2024.
• NCDPI has flagged the NCTWC@adi.org email address for your district and charter technology directors to ensure the survey arrives in your inbox.
• Simply click on the unique survey link received in your staff email.
• Throughout the month of March, if you have not yet completed/submitted your responses, you will receive reminders to do so.  

Yes. All respondents will answer the same items.

• You will receive instant confirmation that your survey has been submitted.
• After the completion of the survey, respondents have the option to share their email address and school name to be entered into a drawing for a gift card or other special incentives. Participation in the drawing will in no way affect the anonymity of your survey responses. 

• The survey platform creates a unique survey link for every email but does not keep a record of any link between email and responses. NCDPI does not have any way to connect your email address to your responses to survey items.
• NCDPI has increased the minimum response rate to 50% to send data back to your school to reduce any chance that results could be attributed to any individual respondents.
• NCDPI also commits to protect your anonymity by requiring a minimum of responses from at least five school educators before any data is shared.

• The survey is about the school environment, not about any one person or individual.
• There are NO questions asked that refer to an individual educator or administrator, but rather “leadership” at the school.
• There are no required demographic questions that specifically ask about the subject areas or grade levels you teach.
• While there are some optional demographic questions on the survey, answers to these questions are only reported at the state level, not at the district or school level.   

There is a minimum sample size of at least five educators for any school-level report. Unless there are at least five educators who have responded to those individual items, no data will appear on the school level report.

• The survey is administered by the Office of Research and Evaluation at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
• Please email NCTWC@dpi.nc.gov if you have any NC TWC questions for NCDPI.
• Survey Support contact information can be found by clicking “Need Help?” from the menu bar at the top of this page. 

Survey Results 

• NCDPI’s goal is to share data directly back with schools and districts as soon as possible after the close of the survey window for all schools reaching the minimum threshold of 50% response rate and at least five educators completing the survey. The target for sharing preliminary results is 2-3 weeks after the survey closes.
• NCDPI will provide an update to the NC State Board of Education in May 2024 on the statewide results from the NCTWC and will release the data publicly at that time.  

• Anyone may view and download the most current survey results, which will be available approximately six weeks after the survey closes. Schools and districts will receive their data prior to the public release in May.
• Results from the previous two surveys will also be available. Instructions for obtaining specific data sets are also located on the website under the Research Section. 

Need Help?

Hours:
M-F 7:30am-4:30pm EST 



Email: 
SurveySupport@adi.org