Study lists districts that have the best and worst teachers

The October 2013 draft report, “The Distribution of Teacher Value Added in North Carolina” (PDF) by Douglas L. Lauen, Gary T. Henry, Roderick A. Rose, and Karen Phelan Kozlowski of the Carolina Institute for Public Policy at UNC-CH found that the following school districts had the best teachers, as measured by value-added scores:

Ashe County Schools (39)
Avery County Schools (19)
Bertie County Schools (21)
Burke County Schools (83)
Caldwell County Schools (88)
Carteret County Public Schools (63)
Catawba County Schools (108)
Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools (17)
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (98)
Clay County Schools (26)
Davie County Schools (87)
Edenton-Chowan Schools (23)
Kannapolis City Schools (46)
Martin County Schools (24)
Mooresville City Schools (100)
Mount Airy City Schools (42)
Newton-Conover City Schools (60)
Orange County Schools (34)
Stanly County Schools (104)
Surry County Schools (84)
Union County Public Schools (106)
Watauga County Schools (41)
Yancey County Schools (36)

The following school districts had teacher value-added scores in the bottom quintile:

Anson County Schools (16)
Beaufort County Schools (66)
Caswell County Schools (43)
Cleveland County Schools (47)
Edgecombe County Schools (64)
Granville County Schools (82)
Greene County Schools (18)
Halifax County Schools (7)
Hyde County Schools (1)
Lenoir County Public Schools (86)
Madison County Schools (49)
Northampton County Schools (6)
Pasquotank County Schools (48)
Randolph County Schools (107)
Roanoke Rapids City Schools (80)
Robeson County Schools (67)
Rutherford County Schools (52)
Scotland County Schools (22)
Tyrrell County Schools (2)
Vance County Schools (40)
Warren County Schools (14)
Weldon City Schools (3)
Whiteville City Schools (57)

The numbers in parentheses, which are not included in the study, are the districts’ per pupil expenditure rank during the 2012-13 school year.  The higher the rank, the more federal, state, and local money spent per student.  For example, Hyde County Schools has the highest per pupil expenditure in the state, a whopping $17,556.59 per student.