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 on a biannual basis.

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. Survey participation means more data and better insights to improve working conditions within our school districts and the state.

In the survey's pilot administration, 57 traditional school districts, two charter districts, and six other schools participated throughout South Carolina.

The next survey administration will take place in early 2025.

Survey results are shared with district leadership via a secure dashboard for analyzing their specific data to inform strategic planning.

Download Information Guide
(Powerpoint)

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.

SCTWCS Participation for Pilot Administration

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%)

Highlights of the SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey 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).

FAQs

  • Broad takeaways are shared in a statewide report to inform policies and practice toward improvement. Responses are confidential, meaning school- and district-level data will be shared only with those respondents and leadership. Teachers are not identifiable by their responses.
  • Schools that meet the participation threshold of 50% (with a minimum of 10 teachers responding) receive their results to use for internal strategic planning.
  • All participating districts will receive free access to resources to support them through the improvement planning process, such as general data and district- and school-level toolkits.

The next SC Teacher Working Conditions Survey will take place January through February of 2025. Districts should expect to receive requests to participate by December 2024.

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 phase two of the SCTWCS pilot administration, districts will receive reports by June 2024. Schools 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.

Have additional questions?
Contact SC TEACHER at SCTinfo@mailbox.sc.edu.