What is the SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey?
The SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey (SCTWCS) explores public school and district factors related to educator support and retention. SC TEACHER is charged through Act 185 to conduct the survey every two years.
It’s important to note that the SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey differs from the School Climate Survey as it aims to gain teacher perspectives on working conditions, rather than overall school environment.
Every teacher’s involvement makes a difference. Increased survey participation means more data and better insights to improve working conditions within our school districts and the state.
Read the SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey report for the most recent state-level results.
Districts that participate in the survey receive access to a secure dashboard with their specific data to inform efforts around teacher recruitment, retention, and more. Watch the video to hear from engaged districts how the dashboard and survey results support their ongoing strategic planning.
Is my district eligible to participate in the 2024 survey administration?
The 2024 SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey is for districts that did not participate in early 2023 survey administration or did not have a response rate above 25%. The 2024 survey will run from Jan. 29 to Feb. 16, 2024. The standard survey runs on a biannual schedule and will occur again statewide in 2025.
Is your district highlighted in blue?
Your district is eligible to take part in the 2024 SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey!
District personnel will have received information on how to participate.
Is your district highlighted in grey?
We appreciate your participation in the Spring 2023 survey. While your district will not be asked to complete the survey again until the 2025 administration, your results grant district personnel access to specific data, ongoing expert support, and other free resources through SC TEACHER.
Not sure how to access resources? Email SCTinfo@mailbox.sc.edu.
Highlights of SCTWCS pilot administration
- The SCTWCS pilot administration captured the experiences of about 23,500 teachers from 57 traditional school districts, two charter districts, and six other schools. This administration took place over the winters of 2023 and 2024.
- Many of these districts are currently using their results and SC TEACHER resources to further strategic planning around teacher effectiveness and working conditions.
- More than 10 districts are working with SC TEACHER partners CarolinaCrED and Mira Education. With phase two of the administration ending in February 2024, this number will continue to grow.
- Through expert guidance and survey results, teams are building upon strengths and addressing areas for improvement. Facilitated support offered through these SC TEACHER partners is free to districts, including opportunities to complete related micro-credentials (also at no cost).
District pilot administration participation
Charter districts and other schools that participated in the SCTWCS pilot administration:
- Charter Institute at Erskine (55%)
- Palmetto Unified (49%)
- SC Governor’s School for Agriculture (54%)
- SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (64%)
- SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities (43%)
- South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (62%)
- South Carolina Public Charter School District (42%)
- South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind (28%)
FAQs for survey participation
The next SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey will take place January 13–February 14, 2025. All district superintendents and personnel administrators should have now received information on how to participate. The deadline to submit teacher emails for district participation is December 13, 2024.
- Broad takeaways are shared in a statewide report to inform policies and practice toward improvement. Only state-level, aggregated data are included in this report.
- District administrators alone receive district-level data. Teachers are not identifiable by their responses. Participating districts also receive free access to resources to support them through the improvement planning process, such as general data and district- and school-level toolkits.
- Schools that meet the participation threshold of 50% (with a minimum of 10 teachers responding) receive their results to use for internal strategic planning. Participating teachers also receive these results.
The survey should take less than 15 minutes on average to complete. If you need to pause while completing the survey, your answers will be saved for you to start back where you left off.
The survey is confidential, not anonymous. This is only so SC TEACHER can compute a response rate for each school. Raw data will not be shared, and teachers will never be identifiable by their responses.
There are two big differences between the surveys.
- While the climate survey asks for teacher perceptions of the overall school environment, the Teacher Working Conditions Survey seeks to understand teachers’ individual perceptions of working conditions.
- School climate information is included as part of accountability measures for schools and districts — Teacher Working Conditions Survey information is not.
For the 2025 SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey, districts will receive access to their personalized, interactive data dashboards by May 2025. Schools (including principals and participating teachers) meeting the participation threshold (a 50% response rate with a minimum of 10 teachers responding) will receive reports by late summer. This schedule gives districts time to use their data in planning for the following school year.
