Designing and Sustaining Advanced Teaching Roles

PANC Spring Conference

April 13, 2026

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Today’s Session

• Advanced Teaching Roles Overview

Leah Sutton, Advanced Teaching Roles Program Lead, NC DPI

• District Exemplars

Dr. Thomas Feller, Jr., Director of School Innovation and Transformation, Pitt County Schools

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Sydney Harris-Mboob, Program Manager for Teacher Leader Pathways, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

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Dr. Kelly Anne Mudd, Director of Grants and Special Programs, Wilson County Schools

• Panel Discussion & Q&A

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Advanced Teaching Roles Overview

• Statewide program that provides grant funds to enable local school district to design and implement new organizational structures that extend the reach of highly effective teachers to more students and/or teams of teachers.

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• Program Reach:
• 37 districts
• More than 600 schools
• ~1,500 teachers in leadership roles
• Salary supplements ranging from $3,000 - $21,000

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Growth Across North Carolina

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How does Advanced Teaching Roles work?

Districts design and implement new organizational structures that:

• Create advancement opportunities for effective teachers who extend their reach to more students or teams of teachers (with substantial pay increases);
• Provided embedded professional support and coaching for novice teachers;
• Distribute leadership across the school such that teachers are better supported, and principals have increased leadership capacity; and
• Increase student access to effective educators.

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Evidence of Success

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Evidence of Success

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Two State Funding Streams

• $5.5 million in recurring funds for ATR grants.
• Districts can receive two three-year grant terms.
• Grant funds can only be used for designing and transitioning to ATR.

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• $10.9 million in recurring funds for ATR salary supplements.
• Adult Leadership teachers receive $10,000.
• Classroom Excellence teachers receive $3,000.
• All ATR districts can receive these funds even if they are beyond the grant term.

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Pitt County Schools

Dr. Thomas R. Feller, Jr., Director of School Innovation and Transformation, Pitt County Schools

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District Timeline

ATR Roles & Reach

Impact on Teaching and Learning

• Teachers who work with ATRs had a statistically significant increase in their EVAAS index scores as compared to teachers who did not work with ATRs (based off a difference of 0.423 in mean scores)
• Teachers in ATR positions were retained at a higher rate than other teachers
• Overall teacher turnover decrease (6.1 percentage point change; we were 1.5 pts over state average to 1.1 pts under state average)
• Estimated savings of over $2.8m over 6 years in teacher replacement costs
• Cultural improvements (as measured by TWC):
• TWC - A higher percentage of PCS teachers had favorable views regarding how they were respected as compared to other, similar NC districts
• Statistically significant improvements on TWC on areas related to teachers being respected as experts, having good processes for decision making, and being trusted to make sound decision

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https://bit.ly/PCS-ATR-Impacts

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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Sydney Harris-Mboob, Program Manager for Teacher Leader Pathways, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

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District Timeline

ATR Roles & Reach

170+ Implementing Schools

949 TLP Educators

Over 135,000 students reached

ATR Roles & Reach

Impact on Teaching and Learning

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• 2024-2025 Official End-of-Year data shows that 89% of Teacher Leader Pathway schools met or exceeded expected growth
• Of this growth, 66% of Teacher Leader Pathway schools exceeded expected growth
• Of the 19 schools removed from the district's priority staffing list for the 26-27 school year, 100% are Teacher Leader Pathway schools

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2024-2025 Data

Impact on Teaching and Learning �

Retention of Advanced Teaching Roles Educators

11- Transitioned to another NC public school system

9- Retired with full benefits

8- Resigned: Family Responsibility/Childcare

8- Resigned: Career Change

Impact on Teaching and Learning

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93% retention rate of teachers on the coaching caseload of an MCL

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13- Transitioned to another NC public school system

9- Retired with full benefits

9- Career change

Retention of Coaching Caseload

Wilson County Schools

Dr. Kelly Anne Mudd, Director of Grants and Special Programs, Wilson County Schools

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District Timeline

ATR Roles & Reach

ATR Roles & Reach

Impact on Teaching and Learning

Panel Discussion

Dr. Thomas Feller, Director of School Innovation and Transformation, Pitt County Schools

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Sydney Harris-Mboob, Program Manager for Teacher Leader Pathways, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

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Dr. Kelly Anne Mudd, Director of Grants and Special Programs, Wilson County Schools

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Advanced Teaching Roles RFP

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View the Request for Proposal and

previously approved proposals here:

https://go.ncdpi.gov/AdvancedTeachingRoles

Upcoming Webinars

Advanced Teaching Roles RFP Info-Session – May 15, 10:00 – 11:00 am​

This webinar will provide an overview of the ATR RFP requirements and the proposal rubric. We will also discuss the grant award and implementation timelines.​

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Advanced Teaching Roles Q&A Session – June 9, 10:00 – 11:00 am     ​

This webinar will provide an opportunity for districts to ask questions about the RFP requirements and process. Leaders at NC DPI and from participating ATR districts will be on hand to answer questions.​

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Contact Information

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Leah Sutton

Advanced Teaching Roles Program Lead, NC DPI

Leah.Sutton@dpi.nc.gov