NC teachers cite discipline as biggest workplace challenge

North Carolina teachers say student discipline is their toughest workplace challenge, according to a 2026 statewide survey of more than 102,000 educators presented to the State Board of Education on May 6.

The North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey, administered every two years to licensed school-based educators, drew a 90.5% response rate this cycle. That’s a five percentage point increase from 2024.

The survey’s 11 domains cover school leadership, managing student conduct, teachers’ time and workload, professional development, school safety, facilities, community involvement, and educator retention.

The challenge was most significant in middle and high schools, according to the survey. At the high school level, 77.4% of teachers reported tardiness or class-skipping as a problem, 66.9% cited cheating, 64.1% cited drug or tobacco use, and 53.6% cited student disrespect of teachers.

The story was similar in middle schools, with 69.5% of teachers identifying disrespect as an issue, 66.7% flagging disorder areas like hallways and bathrooms, and 61.1% pointing to tardiness or class skipping.

The item of highest concern across all grade levels was whether teachers agreed students follow school rules, at 73.8%.

“Student conduct was also one of the clearest day-to-day challenges among teachers, especially in middle and high schools,” said Shaun Kellogg, senior director for the office of research and promising practices at the NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI). 

He noted the results mirror DPI’s annual crime, violence, and dropout data, including the controlled-substance offenses that drove most reportable acts in the most recent state report.

Anonymous comments from teachers were included in the report, and they reinforced the top problems identified.

One teacher wrote that “lack of an attendance policy and 50s are the most detrimental thing affecting student learning,” referring to minimum-grade-floor policies that prevent teachers from giving below 50 on assignments. Another wrote that “students are allowed to roam the hallways and be disruptive” and “are rarely given consequences.” A third described “a lack of consistent expectations for student behavior, leading to a culture where school rules are routinely ignored.”

Kimberly Jones, the 2023 North Carolina Teacher of the Year and a Chapel Hill-Carrboro English teacher who serves as an adviser to the state board, told members the behavior challenges in middle and high schools “are tied directly back to … the strength of your administrator and the culture that they establish in their schools and the support that teachers feel in managing their classrooms.”

Without adequate counselors and social workers, “teachers are having to take on behaviors that professional interventionists should be handling,” she added.

At-large board member Catty Moore questioned why classroom management didn’t rank higher among the supports teachers requested.

“There does seem to be a little bit of a disconnect between 50% to 70% of teachers having negative perceptions around things that deal with classroom disorder, unstructured disorder, student disrespect,” Moore said. “When you look at the stuff they’re asking for help with, it’s not really student conduct.”

The preliminary report recommends “clearer expectations, more consistent consequences, [and] stronger adult alignment,” along with targeted support in middle and high schools.

State Board Chair Eric Davis asked DPI staff to include policy recommendations for state leaders in the final report, due later this year.

“NC teachers cite discipline as biggest workplace challenge” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.