The diverse cultures and providing more understanding of the cultures to establish camaraderie in the schools.

Volunteering to provide safety for teachers and students

Work along with teachers to ensure student is operating on grade level

I can safely say that my colleagues have been some of the hardest working, most diligent educators I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. They come to school every day to fight for our students and our shared future! I am proud to be one of them.

Self contained classrooms being kindergarten through 5th grade, and all instruction being placed on one teacher. It prevents students from receiving instruction for every academic standard.

Decrease in enrollment in teacher education

Increase/widening of the opportunity gap

Solutions

Diversify the path to licensure, pay teachers for advanced degrees

Establish or expand the grow your own program and Teaching Fellows

Pay is low and not competitive. We need to do better as a state, county, and community.

solution- provide resources to help students from the bottom up to learn how to be an effective reader. Have more community activities (pep rallies, carnivals, volunteering) to encourage student to engage in fun and education.

Parent accountability is needed because it starts at home.

Have the standard path

Create a trade path

Create a collage path

A challenge in schools across NC are the various math curriculums. There should be a state curriculum per grade level since they all essentially take the same test. Another challenge is not having math certified teachers teaching math to fill a position.

Meanwhile, several closed school buildings in our community remain in good condition and could be repurposed to serve a vital function. We propose transforming one of these buildings into a centralized Community Hub—a space where nonprofit organizations and service providers can come together to offer critical resources directly within the neighborhoods that need them most.

This hub would provide essential services such as mentoring, tutoring, a food bank, showers, and recreational facilities, creating a safe and supportive environment for children and their families. By consolidating these resources in one accessible location, we can significantly reduce barriers to assistance and offer a structured, positive space for youth engagement.

Investing in a Community Hub would not only address pressing needs but also foster a stronger, healthier, and more resilient community. We have an opportunity to make a lasting impact—let’s work together to bring this vision to life.

Issac

Solution: Keep qualified school library media coordinators in libraries. We are required to have a Masters degree in library and information sciences and our job is more than checking in and out books. Having a qualified and certified librarian helps improve literacy and reading engagement, ensures equitable access to resources (especially in areas where students don’t have access to books at home), supports research and literacy skills, and promotes a passion for lifelong learning.

Increasing pay and benefits would help tremendously.

Although NC’s Digital Learning Standards (DTL) exist, they aren’t embedded into core curriculum, making tech literacy feel like an extra rather than a necessity.

To bridge the gap, DTL must be integrated into all subjects—using tech for research in ELA, data analysis in math, coding in science, and project-based collaboration across disciplines. Teachers need training to make digital skills a seamless part of learning, ensuring all students graduate prepared for a tech-driven future.

How can we push for this shift at the district and state levels?

North Carolina is losing experienced educators due to a lack of competitive pay and restrictive policies for retirees. Veteran teachers, assistant principals, and other educators are financially penalized for staying beyond year 10 because pay steps have been removed. Many who retire want to return to the classroom but face barriers, pushing them to teach in South Carolina, Virginia, and other neighboring states instead. This results in a loss of expertise, mentorship, and stability for students.

• Restore pay steps to fairly compensate and retain veteran educators.

• Create pathways for retired teachers to return without financial penalties.

• Advocate for policy changes at the district and state levels to ensure experienced educators can continue serving NC students.

How can we push for these changes to strengthen our schools?

Add vocational classes to every high school curriculum.

Solution-bring back stretch pay!!!

We are committed to enhancing NC public schools by supporting the implementation and expansion of Project Lead The Way (PLTW) programs. PLTW provides transformative learning experiences for K-12 students and teachers across the state through hands-on, project-based STEM curricula. Our goal is to help students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills that prepare them for college, careers, and beyond.

Through partnerships, training opportunities, and resource support, we aim to increase access to PLTW in underrepresented and underserved communities, ensuring that all students—regardless of background—can engage in high-quality STEM education. We also support teacher professional development to ensure educators are fully equipped to deliver impactful, real-world learning experiences.

I've combed the ncdpi website for the words innovation and imagination and that doesn't seem to be a huge emphasis. I would love to discuss this in more detail. Sorry for typos...dkoonce5@umd.edu

Solution: Non-traditional teachers who are not licensed need an alternative licensure program completely redesigned. They need a state developed program with a standard curriculum at universities for alternative licensure teachers. In this program, the universities will work collaboratively with school district personnel to practice strategies as they learn them. Instead of a praxis, they will develop a portfolio throughout their alternative licensure program. The portfolio will be evaluated throughout the program and the teacher will be fully licensed without a praxis.

A Master’s degree encourages further and deeper learning for teachers. They lead to highly educated educators. And they help teachers find their “niche” and re-ignite their passion.

NC has the most National Board Teachers in the country, myself included, which is amazing, but there is a reason: we are trying to make a live able wage.

As a 10 year NC teacher, I have done everything I can to earn the highest wage I can. I still earn less than the state average and struggle to find stability. Please work with Governor Stein to advocate for masters pay reinstatement.

Only 10 states, including NC, require the ACT exam, the PreACT exam, the ACT WorkKeys exams, and the ACT Bootcamp Training in every high school for every student.

All of these tests take up weeks out of our school year, extending over several days, closing down schools and stressing out students, teachers, and volunteers as we struggle to make accommodations and test every student. 

Less than 40% of NC high school graduates enroll in postsecondary schools - so for the majority of our students these 3-4 hour long exams are completely unnecessary to their future plans. 

In March of last year the non-profit company that owned the ACT Exams was bought by the private equity firm Nexus Capital Management and transitioned to a for-profit company - which should be cause for scrutiny of their practices going forward. Non-profits serve the public good, while the goal of for-profit companies is to generate profit for their owners.

Our state could free up millions of dollars and countless hours of instruction time by joining the majority of the states in the country that do not require the ACT, the PreACT, the ACT WorkKeys, and the ACT Bootcamp in every high school. 

We need our Bus Drivers to drive buses.

We need our Clerks to do office and administrative support duties.

We need our Teachers Assistants to be assisting teachers.

Bus driver shortages are the biggest diversion of our support staff, so I would suggest starting there. The most obvious solution is to increase the pay and hours of bus drivers, so they are full time employees with competitive pay to city bus drivers.

Supporting students with learning needs in the regular classroom with a significant amount of accommodations and modifications and then testing them on the general curriculum

We also need a bigger Vocational lab to help students with daily living skills and job skills.