North Carolina has eliminated the Praxis Core entrance exam that once stood between undergraduates and their teaching degrees, and at UNC-Greensboro, the change already has a headcount attached to it: roughly 35 students who previously left the School of Education after struggling with the test are coming back. The returning group includes music education, dance education, birth-through-kindergarten, and elementary education majors who had been pushed out of their intended majors when they couldn't pass the exam in time.
The repeal, formally enacted under North Carolina General Statute 115C-269.15, did away with the old rule that required undergraduates entering educator preparation programs to pass a preprofessional basic skills test like the Praxis Core or hit minimum SAT or ACT score thresholds, according to Carolina Journal. Its repeal provisions were folded into the broader 2026 North Carolina state budget package after originating in Senate Bill 840. As WUNC News reports, the Praxis Core tested high school-level math, reading, and writing skills, with content similar to the ACT and SAT, and prospective teachers still must pass separate content exams in the subjects they intend to teach before earning full licensure.
Jacqueline Dozier, director for student success at UNC-Greensboro's School of Education, told WUNC that many students experience testing anxiety in part because the Praxis Core may be their first standardized test. Under the old system, students who failed the exam by the end of sophomore year were forced to switch majors, and many students took the test multiple times before passing, at $90 to $150 per attempt depending on how many subjects were retaken. Dozier said universities now want to know whether removing the exam will actually increase the number of students willing to become teachers.
A Pandemic-Era Preview of What Comes Next
North Carolina has run this experiment before. When the state temporarily suspended the Praxis Core requirement during the COVID-19 pandemic, statewide enrollment in educator preparation programs jumped 34.3% during the 2020-21 academic year, according to data from the North Carolina Association of Colleges for Teacher Education relayed by EdNC. The gains were even sharper among candidates of color: enrollment rose 51.5% among Black candidates and 48.2% among Hispanic candidates statewide during that same pandemic suspension, per the same NCACTE report.
That history lines up with a broader national shift. Only 15 states still required a basic skills entrance exam for teacher preparation programs by 2021, per the NCACTE analysis cited by EdNC, with many states instead leaning on GPA requirements and alternative assessments. North Carolina's Praxis Core repeal moves the state further into that national trend rather than against it.
UNC-Greensboro and N.C. A&T Track the Fallout
UNC-Greensboro and North Carolina A&T State University plan to track how the policy change affects enrollment in their teaching programs going forward, per WUNC. North Carolina teaching colleges had experienced a decline among traditional undergraduate students, and some UNC-Greensboro students fail to meet the Praxis Core requirement each year under the old rules.
Nichole Smith, interim chair of the Department of Educator Preparation at North Carolina A&T State University, said the university uses its own assessment of communication skills, professionalism, and the ability to take constructive feedback, per WUNC's reporting. Students will still need to meet GPA minimums in their college coursework before moving into advanced education classes, and colleges of education may rethink other ways to evaluate students now that the entrance exam is gone.
Why Lawmakers Say the Exam Had to Go
Sen. Tom McInnis, the bill's primary sponsor, argued during legislative debate that entry testing requirements operated as a front-end barrier that screened out candidates who could have succeeded in classrooms, while districts were left leaning on long-term substitutes, according to Carolina Journal. Senate Bill 840 cleared the Senate Education Committee before its key provisions were folded into the final state budget.
The urgency behind that argument shows up in the state's own staffing numbers. North Carolina public school districts reported a 7.2% teacher vacancy rate, with 6,721 unfilled teaching positions as of the 40th day of the 2024-25 school year, according to the Department of Public Instruction's State of the Teaching Profession report released in March 2026 and covered by WFAE. Overall teacher attrition held at 10.11%, while early-career teachers exited at rates between 14% and 18%.
The pipeline problem runs deeper than recruitment alone. Department of Public Instruction data presented in March 2026 showed that for every five prospective teachers who enter a North Carolina Educator Preparation Program, only two complete it and teach effectively within a year, while eight teachers exit the profession overall, the same report found.
More Changes Beyond the Entrance Exam
The Praxis Core repeal was one piece of a larger licensure overhaul. Lawmakers also eliminated the requirement that new teachers attempt licensure exams during their first year in the classroom, retaining only the deadline to pass those exams by the end of year three, per Carolina Journal.
Separately, the 2026 reforms created a new pathway to a Continuing Professional License for teachers on limited licenses, letting them qualify if their students show positive academic growth on state EVAAS exams in two out of three recent years, regardless of test scores, according to The News & Observer. State officials noted that fewer than 40% of North Carolina teachers currently receive individual EVAAS growth scores, and further study is needed for non-tested subjects like art and music.
The budget legislation also eased reciprocity for out-of-state teachers by eliminating the requirement that license holders come from states with substantially similar standards, according to WHKY. Previous rules frequently forced veteran out-of-state teachers to retake standardized tests or complete redundant coursework before they could work in North Carolina classrooms.
North Carolina's state budget also included a boost for beginning teacher pay, and Dozier said she's hopeful that combination of the policy change and higher starting salaries will improve teacher recruitment. North Carolina colleges of education have welcomed back students who had previously left their programs after struggling with the standardized entrance exam, and undergraduate admissions counselors will be recruiting for teaching programs in the coming year. Still, other barriers to entering teaching remain, including poor perceptions of pay and classroom working conditions, according to WUNC's reporting.
