North Carolina
National Council on Teacher Quality Report Card: North Carolina Teacher Policy
Legend
 | Best practices. |
 | State meets goal. |
 | State nearly meets goal. |
 | State partially meets goal. |
 | State meets a small part of goal. |
 | State does not meet goal. |
| Full Report – National Council on Teacher Quality | |
Meeting NCLB Teacher Quality Objectives: C
| Goal A Equitable Distribution of Teachers |
| Goal B Elementary Teacher Preparation |
| Goal C Secondary Teacher Preparation |
| Goal D Veteran Teachers Path to HQT |
| Goal E Standardizing Credentials |
| Goal A Defining Professional Knowledge |
| Goal B Meaningful Licenses |
| Goal C Interstate Portability |
| Goal D Teacher Prep in Reading Instruction |
| Goal E Distinguishing Promising Teachers |
Teacher Evaluation and Compensation: C
| Goal A Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness |
| Goal B Using Value-Added |
| Goal C Teacher Evaluation |
| Goal D Compensation Reform |
| Goal E Tenure |
State Approval of Teacher Preparation Programs: C
| Goal A Entry Into Preparation Programs |
| Goal B Program Accountability |
| Goal C Program Approval and Accreditation |
| Goal D Controlling Coursework Creep |
Alternate Routes to Certification: D
| Goal A Genuine Alternatives |
| Goal B Limiting Alternate Routes to Teachers with Strong Credentials |
| Goal C Program Accountability |
| Goal D Interstate Portability |
Preparation of Special Education Teachers: D
| Goal A Special Education Teacher Preparation |
| Goal B Elementary Special Education Teachers |
| Goal C Secondary Special Education Teachers |
| Goal D Special Education Teacher and HQT |
Political contribution statistics from 2004 political cycle.
In North Carolina, after 3 years, public school teachers receive what's commonly called "tenure," a special employment protection that teachers unions defend. As the below federal statistics indicate, tenured teachers (as opposed to less-senior "probationary" teachers) are practically impossible to fire.
| 0.6% tenured/post-probationary teacher firing rate |
0.3% |
9.8% |
Data obtained from the Department of Education's 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey.
Statewide Unions
North Carolina Association of Educators
Total Revenue: $ 9,238,704
Total Expenses: $ 9,170,283
Total Assets: $ 6,072,844
AFT North Carolina
Total Revenue: $ 32,050
Total Expenses: $ 23,354
Total Assets: $ 27,098
Data obtained from the Internal Revenue Service's Master Data File 2005-2006.
Other Unions
| Name | City | Total Rev. | Tax Period |
| North Carolina Association Of Educators | Raleigh | $ 9,238,704 | 2003 |
| Federal Education Association | Fayetteville | $ 1,855,776 | 2004 |
| Federal Education Association-pacific | Fayetteville | $ 857,642 | 2004 |
| Federal Education Association-state Side Region | Fayetteville | $ 827,678 | 2004 |
| American Educators Association Of Okinawa | Fayetteville | $ 272,405 | 2000 |
| American Federation Of Teachers | Pittsboro | $ 63,079 | 2002 |
| American Federation Of Teachers Of North Carolina | Kure Beach | $ 32,050 | 2004 |
For this massive new project, the Center for Union Facts filed freedom of information requests with dozens of America’s major school districts.
From the stacks of paperwork that ensued, we have calculated a variety of statistics that document how teachers unions – and the laws and policies they defend – keep bad teachers in classrooms. Read on to discover just what all that dues money pays for in many cities around the country.
Wake NCAE: Protecting Bad Teachers
How We Discovered These Facts
This information comes from the Wake County Public School System's response to a public information request filed by the Center for Union Facts, which asked for teachers who were terminated.Click here to read our full letter to the Wake County Public School System.
Wake NCAE counts as its members teachers from the Wake County Public School System, the public school district for Raleigh and the surrounding area. According to school district records, however, policies defended by Wake NCAE and its parent organization, the North Carolina Association of Educators (the state affiliate of the National Education Association, the nation's largest teachers union), mean that practically no teachers are ever fired by the school system.
The Wake County Public School System has about 4,220 teachers with "career" contracts ("career" status is available once a teacher has been in the system for four years, and it is enshrined in a state law defended stridently by Wake NCAE and its parent organization). Original research by the Center for Union Facts into school district records indicates that, between the 2003-04 and the 2006-07 school years, not a single "career" teacher was fired by the district.
Moreover, in that same time period only six probationary (pre-"career", meaning that their contracts must be renewed to continue their employment) teachers did not have their contracts renewed, out of a pool of about 3,733 probationary teachers. That's little more than one per year, or an annual rate of 0.04 percent. Since it takes four years to get "career" status in North Carolina's public school districts, that statistic suggests that only about 0.16 percent of probationary teachers are taken out of schools before getting tenure.
It's easy to believe that the vast majority of Wake County's public schoolteachers are doing a good job, but it's a near-impossibility that all 4,220 career teachers deserve to be in front of kids; any group of people that size is bound to have at least a few bad apples. The best explanation, in our opinion, is that by protecting an outmoded employment system, the state and local teachers organizations have made it nearly impossible to fire bad teachers.
Source: Wake County Schools; Tharrington Smith LLP
Data current as of December 17, 2007
© 2010 Center for Union Facts