Education Initiatives

Educator Innovation
TeachReadyNC: Teacher Apprenticeship in North Carolina

BEST NC’s research indicates that a state-supported, paid teacher apprenticeship program like TeachReadyNC will help North Carolina’s largest and fastest-growing teacher candidate pool find the…

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Educator Innovation
Principal Pay in North Carolina

Thanks to BEST NC’s research and recommendations, North Carolina is currently the only state in the nation that pays its school leaders for more than…

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Educator Innovation
Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR)™

Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR)™ is the nation’s only school-level, state-supported strategic staffing initiative, empowering North Carolina schools to design and adopt new organizational structures that…

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Coursework Strategy
Economics & Personal Finance Coursework

Research has found that states that have required stand-alone courses in personal finance have seen their average credit scores rise in the years after implementation….

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Coursework Strategy
Increasing Access to Advanced Coursework

Access and enrollment in advanced coursework is linked to long-term positive outcomes for students, including greater readiness for postsecondary education. Automatic enrollment policies are a…

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Data
North Carolina School Spending Data Explorer Tool

This data explorer allows users to identify trends in education spending and examine relationships between per pupil expenditures (PPE) and other school-level data….

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Strategic Plan
North Carolina Counts on Math (NCCOM): Designing a Shared K-5 Vision for Math (2026)

BEST NC, partnering with Watershed Advisors, convened the North Carolina Counts on Math (NCCOM) working group consisting of a cross-section of state and local mathematics…

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Strategic Plan
NC STRIDE: An Action Plan for Teacher Recruitment in North Carolina (2021)

This document shares the recommendations, strategies, and actions suggested by the NC STRIDE Teacher Recruitment Working Group in 2020, and highlights areas of alignment with…

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Strategic Plan
NC First in Teaching (FIT) Roadmap (2018)

In 2018, current and former NC teachers formed the FIT Leaders. The culmination of their work together was the NC First in Teaching Roadmap, which…

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Full List of 2018 FIT Leaders

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Event
The North Carolina Education Innovation Lab

The North Carolina Education Innovation Lab is a day-long gathering of business leaders, policymakers, educators, and other state and national stakeholders dedicated to exploring timely…

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Video
BEST NC’s Conversation with the Candidates

Each election cycle, BEST NC’s A Conversation with the Candidates brings together the candidates for North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction together for a…

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Video
Advanced Teaching Roles™ Virtual RFP & Info-Sharing Sessions

Hosted by BEST NC and NC DPI, these in-person and virtual meetings convenes districts that are currently implementing or are curious about ATR staffing models…

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Facts Matter

Facts & Figures:
Education in North Carolina

Facts & Figures is a 76-page data guide that has become a crucial asset for education stakeholders across NC, often presenting education, district, and state-level…

North Carolina School Spending Data Explorer Tool

BEST NC’s interactive data explorer tool allows users a new and engaging way to identify trends in education spending and examine relationships between per pupil…

Performance Measures

Performance measures help determine how both students and their educators are doing, allowing North Carolina’s stakeholders to identify inspiring successes and opportunities for improvement….

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Teacher Apprenticeship in North Carolina: Exploring In-Classroom Preparation for the Next Generation of Teachers (2025)

Policy Brief

This policy brief examines the past, present, and possible future of teacher apprenticeship, the benefits and barriers this initiative presents for North Carolina’s current teacher recruitment strategy, and BEST NC’s recommendations for future analysis and implementation.

Policy Brief

RESOURCE LIBRARY

Related Resources & Programs

Select one of the options below to learn more about that aspect of our work.

This conference brief provides relevant background info, data, and research and was published to support conversations held at the 2026 North Carolina Education Innovation Lab…

TeachReadyNC is designed to disrupt the costly cycle of teacher turnover, giving students access to more experienced, more effective teachers, while creating an apprenticeship pathway…

This report builds upon BEST NC’s 2018 policy brief by examining the latest research and best practices around principal preparation, providing an update on the…

This brief examines the state’s Advanced Teaching Roles™(ATR) program, explains what it is and the history of the initiative, summarizes research on its impact, shares…

Educator Innovation

Educator Innovation

Educator Innovation

Coursework Strategy

Coursework Strategy

Data

Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan

Event

Video

Video

Resource library

Teacher Apprenticeship in North Carolina: Exploring In-Classroom Preparation for the Next Generation of Teachers (2025)

RESOURCE LIBRARY

Related Resources & Programs

Event, Policy Brief

Summary

Policy Brief

Policy Brief

PowerPoint: Building the Foundation for Tailored Learning

PowerPoint: Why Tailored Learning, Why Now?

Report on National Approaches to Competency-Based Learning (Education Commission of the States)

Quality Framework for Competency-Based Education Programs (C-BEN)

Facts & Figures: Education in North Carolina

North Carolina School Spending Data Explorer Tool

Advanced Teaching Roles (ATR)™