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College of Education

April 2022

 

UofSC joins with Lexington One to create personalized degree program

The University of South Carolina’s Carolina CrED program personalized a degree program to meet the professional learning of SC educators.  The Educational Leadership and Policies (EDLP) master’s program and Lexington School District One have joined together to create a Professional Development School District (PDS-D) partnership focused on developing school leaders who are advocates for children and each child’s access to high quality, challenging, and empowering learning each day.  Through a special PDS-D cohort in the master’s program, the EDLP faculty and school district leaders of Lexington One have revised the master’s programs’ content to provide the administrative interns the opportunity to analyze leadership through a culturally affirming lens.  The National Policy Board for Education Administration (2015) has standards that state leaders have a responsibility to be equitable and culturally responsive. 

The University of South Carolina will share that they partnered with an entire school district to improve the quality of leadership preparation. It has been shown that through the Professional Development Schools-District the work is relevant, tailored to the unique context of a specific district, plus the issues, topics, and challenges are occurring in real time (Young et al., 2022).  In Lexington School District One, the Director of Leadership Development and Continuous Improvement collaborated with the Master’s in Educational Leadership and Policies Program Coordinator to design a unique cohort of master level administrative interns who are representative of elementary, middle, and high school teachers in Lexington One studying to be student-centered leaders.

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CarolinaCAP and Williston School District 20 come together to "Put a CAP on It!"

The Carolina Collaborative for Alternative Preparation (CarolinaCAP) is a non-degree program leading to full licensure for teacher candidates. CarolinaCAP is a collaboration among South Carolina school districts, the University of South Carolina, and the Center for Teaching Quality with the goal to create a high-quality alternative pathway into teaching. 

Recently, representatives from Williston School District 29, the inaugural CarolinaCAP district, and the CarolinaCAP director presented at the South Carolina School Boards Association’s Annual Convention. The presentation, Beyonce Put a Ring on it, WE Put a CAP on it!, highlighted the positive impact of CarolinaCAP on teacher retention, growth and leadership, and the implications for systemic changes. CarolinaCAP candidates shared stories on how the support of district and school administration and the CarolinaCAP coach helps their growth and success in the program. District and school administrators shared data about the retention of CarolinaCAP teachers and the power of Grow Your Own programs. The presenters highlighted the authentic partnerships among the CarolinaCAP team and district partners, personalization of learning via micro-credentials, and individualized support provided by trained CarolinaCAP coaches. The presentation sparked the interest of other South Carolina school districts in attendance which will increase district partnership in CarolinaCAP.

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