For many years, North Carolina has had a number of robust teacher recruitment efforts but has lacked a comprehensive plan for next steps to ensure that we attract high-quality teaching candidates for our state’s hardest-to-staff subject areas and schools. That is why we formed a teacher recruitment working group in 2020 with representatives from across the education landscape and including input from over 100 experts, including educators, researchers, and policymakers. This working group set out to examine the teacher recruitment landscape in North Carolina and develop a set of recommendations to move our state forward with a coordinated and impactful teacher recruitment strategy.
NC STRIDE Teacher Recruitment Action Plan
The culmination of the NC STRIDE work, so far, is the release of the NC STRIDE Teacher Recruitment Action Plan which frames the process through which the plan came together, shares the recommendations, strategies, and actions, and highlights areas of alignment with other education initiatives underway in North Carolina.
Recommendations for Teacher Recruitment
NC STRIDE has identified eight primary Recommendations, 20 Strategies and over 150 Actions. The primary recommendations, shown below, are not in order of priority, they are all interrelated and equally important. To view the Strategies and Actions, please download the report above.
Alignment
Establish a state-level teacher recruitment entity within DPI that will increase alignment between DPI, EPPs, LEAs, educators, personnel administrators, policymakers, educator support groups, and others.
Data & Research
Routinely collect, monitor, and utilize data and research about best practices in recruitment in order to align them with North Carolina’s educator needs and resources.
Entry Points
Create and expand recruitment efforts at key entry points for teacher candidates - from secondary students to college students to mid-career professionals.
Exposure
Offer in-classroom and other relevant teaching experiences early and often for anyone who might be interested in teaching, providing them exposure to multiple environments and subject areas to help determine whether teaching is a good fit for them.
Fill Vacancies
Develop specific, targeted hiring practices and incentives to fill critical vacancies, leveraging best practices in other industries and places to clearly align specific strategies with each unique type of staffing need.
Licensure
Overhaul licensure policies and systems to support effective educators as they enter and advance through the teaching profession.
Marketing & Support
Sustain intentional marketing efforts that elevate the profession and connect to support systems for teacher candidates.
Preparation
Remove unnecessary barriers to entry from the EPP selection process and ensure EPPs are empowered to evolve their practices to prepare candidates for 21st-century demands on teachers.
NC STRIDE Planning Team
Our Partners in Teacher Recruitment
Special Thanks
