At the heart of every thriving classroom is an eye-level teacher, an educator with the time, attention and presence to meet students where they are and help them grow. But across North Carolina, increasing workloads, financial strain, staffing shortages, and administrative demands are making that connection harder to maintain.

Commissioned by Classroom Central, The Decline of the NC Eye-Level Teacher brings together local teacher voices and broader research to examine the pressures affecting today’s educators and how those pressures ultimately impact students.

Why this matters – Classroom Central believes experienced and caring teachers are essential to student success. Providing free classroom resources is an important part of that work, but teachers also need the time, working conditions, compensation, and support that allow them to remain in the profession and focus on teaching. Our advocacy work is centered on helping create those conditions, particularly in high-need schools where resource gaps can have the greatest impact.

This white paper explores what is getting in the way of teachers being fully present for students, and opportunities to help restore the time, capacity and classroom connection that effective teaching requires.