NC: Teachers see student behavior as "one of most challenging working conditions"

May 4, 2026, Raleigh News and Observer: Student behavior a major concern among NC teachers, survey says. What that means - AOL

Thousands of North Carolina teachers marched in Raleigh last week demanding higher pay and more school funding, but a new report shows that poor student behavior is also a major concern for educators.

The State Board of Education is scheduled to receive a presentation on Wednesday highlighting the top issues found in the 2026 North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey.  Student conduct was a major concern with a majority of the 102,640 educators who took the survey saying student disrespect to teachers, skipping class and disorder in the hallways are issues in their school.

“Managing Student Conduct emerged as one of the most challenging working conditions in the survey and one of the clearest day-to-day issues for teachers,” according to the survey summary from the state Department of Public Instruction.

Teachers in traditional public schools and charter schools are surveyed by the state every two years for their assessment of working conditions. More than 90% of the state’s educators took the anonymous survey this year.

Teachers concerned about students disrespecting them

Like the teachers who marched in Raleigh last week, those in the survey raised concerns about low pay and school funding. But the survey respondents also raised multiple concerns about student behavior in school.

Teachers were surveyed in 11 broad areas, including community support and involvement, managing student conduct, school leadership and teacher leadership. Managing student conduct had the lowest percentage of positive responses of the 11 areas at 64%.

The findings are in line with how teachers across the country have reported an increase in student behavioral issues since the pandemic, when students went an extended period without in-person learning. . . .

North Carolina’s student suspensions and school crimes dropped for the second year in a row last school year. But the rates are higher than they were before the pandemic.

Teachers were asked about 14 areas, including student possession of a weapon, cyberbullying and cheating. Three categories got a majority of responses saying it’s a problem at their school.

58.1% of teachers said student disrespect of teachers was an issue at their school.

55.6% of teachers said disorder in unstructured areas (e.g. hallways, cafeterias and bathrooms) was an issue.

55% of teachers said tardiness/skipping class was an issue.

While not a majority, 46.7% of teachers said disorder in the classroom is an issue at their school.

Bullying an issue in NC middle schools

The biggest student behavioral issues reported by high school teachers were tardiness/skipping class (77.4%), cheating (66.9%) and drug/tobacco product use (64.1%).

The biggest student behavioral issues reported by middle school teachers were student disrespect of teachers (69.5%), disorder in unstructured areas (66.7%) and tardiness/skipping class (61.1%). But high numbers of middle school teachers also reported bullying (57.2%) and cyberbullying (45.8%) to be an issue than elementary and high school teachers.

“Middle schools stand out for the breadth of their challenges,” according to the DPI presentation.

Even among the younger students, the majority of elementary school educators reported that student disrespect (56.3%) and disorder in unstructured areas (53%) were issues. . . .