Last Updated on August 31, 2015 11:56 am
The Watauga County School system is ranked 2nd on a list of best places to teach in North Carolina. The list compiled by the website Niche.com, ranks Watauga 2nd out of 100 school districts in the state.
According to the site, the rankings provide a comprehensive assessment of the quality, support, and compensation a district provides to its teachers. It uses data sourced from various government and public data sets, Niche’s own proprietary data, and 4,624,238 opinion-based survey responses across a variety of topics from 287,606 current students, recent alumni, and parents.
A high ranking in places to teach generally indicates that:
Teachers work in a safe, well-resourced schools and are compensated appropriately for their work;
The district is invested in its teachers and provides a good environment for teaching and learning;
Teachers are invested in the district and the students and work to ensure the best outcomes for students.
Among other factors the website takes into account when compiling the rankings are: average teacher salary, student-teacher ratio, overall experience grade and health & safety.
Watauga County Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Elliott shares with WataugaRoads.com,”The niche.com ranking certainly is good news for our school system and I think it reflects our efforts to provide a high quality education for all our students. At our annual convocation I announced two significant goals for our school system. First, we will be the best place for educators to work in North Carolina. This is critical to reaching our next goal, which is to be the best place for a student to receive an education in the High Country and anywhere else in North Carolina.”
Dr. Elliott adds, “This particular report is based on a variety of data sources. It includes student test performance grades, student teacher ratios, and teacher experience levels. It also includes ratings and comments from students and parents regarding their experiences in the school system. The report also points to some areas where we have work to do. We need to make sure we are providing our teachers with adequate instructional resources to do their jobs. We need to keep class sizes as low as possible. We have to be more competitive with our neighbors and with school systems such as Chapel Hill when it comes to teacher pay. And, we have to improve the condition of our school facilities so that teachers and students are working and learning in the best possible environments.”
“I could not be more proud than I am right now to be an educator in Watauga County. There is a positive energy and lots of optimism about our future. Great things are happening here and people are noticing. Teachers want to move here to work and parents want to move their families here to be a part of our school system. We are trying to do out part to make Watauga County a great place for businesses and families.”, he concludes.
Other local school systems also made the top 20 with Avery at 9, Ashe at 11 and Alleghany at 20. For the complete list visit this link.
The website was founded by Carnegie Mellon University students in 2002.
Graphic: Niche.com
