STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

MOLLY M. SPEARMAN STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION

Committee on Educator Retention and Recruitment Recommendations

Provided to the South Carolina Legislature Pursuant to Proviso 1.92 of the 2017?18 Appropriations Act

December 31, 2017

The South Carolina Department of Education does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability in admission to,

treatment in, or employment in its programs and activities. Inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies should be made to the Employee Relations Manager, 1429 Senate Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29201, 803-734-8781. For further information on federal nondiscrimination regulations, including Title IX, contact the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at

OCR.DC@ or call 1-800-421-3481.

Foreword

Our state has committed to the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate - every high school graduate will be prepared for success in college, career, and citizenship. To accomplish this goal, we must first ensure that every child has an effective teacher in every classroom, every day.

At the beginning of the 2016 school year, districts reported 481 vacant teaching positions in our public school classrooms. The vacancy rate grows each year - particularly in mathematics and special education. Many rural districts must rely on international teachers to fill core subject positions and often find over half of their faculty with international credentials.

Fewer students are entering the teaching profession. The number of South Carolina graduates eligible for a teaching certification declined from 2,447 in 2013 to 1,898 in 2016 as reported by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement (CERRA). Even with alternative certification programs that give pathways for career changers, retiring military personnel, and other bachelor degree recipients to become classroom teachers, the reality of a teacher shortage faces all school districts in South Carolina.

Another issue is the high percentage of teachers who leave during their first five years of teaching. In the 2016?17 school year, CERRA reported that 2,465.4 teachers did not return to their same position after five years or less of teaching. This number increased from 1,796.5 in the 2014?15 school year. This significant rise in teacher turnover cannot be overlooked.

Teacher recruitment and retention issues affect states across our nation and have been researched extensively. This Educator Retention and Recruitment Task Force reviewed current research, best practices, and received input from South Carolina teachers during the fall of 2017.

Twenty-nine practical recommendations resulted and are detailed in this report. These recommendations should be implemented swiftly and with fidelity.

Contents Report Requirements ...................................................................................................................... 1 Work Completed ............................................................................................................................. 1 Recommendations........................................................................................................................... 4

Salary Recommendations............................................................................................................ 4 Marketing Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 6 Incentives for Educators Recommendations............................................................................... 6 Teacher Support Recommendations ........................................................................................... 7 Certification Recommendations.................................................................................................. 8 Teacher Preparation Program Recommendations....................................................................... 9 Auxiliary Support Recommendations....................................................................................... 10 Other Recruitment Initiative Recommendations ...................................................................... 11 Summary of Recommendations/Action Required .................................................................... 12 References..................................................................................................................................... 16 Appendix A ................................................................................................................................... 17 Appendix B ................................................................................................................................... 18 Appendix C ................................................................................................................................... 32 Appendix D ................................................................................................................................... 33 Appendix E ................................................................................................................................... 35

Committee on Educator Retention and Recruitment Recommendations

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December 31, 2017

Contents

Report Requirements

Per Proviso 1.92, included in the 2017?18 Appropriations Act, the State Superintendent of Education convened stakeholders to examine and make recommendations regarding educator recruitment and retention to include identification of the causes of teacher shortages and the state's educational system's future demand for teachers.

1.92. (SDE: Committee on Educator Retention and Recruitment) From the funds appropriated to the department, the Superintendent of Education shall initiate convening a study committee to address the issue of educator recruitment and retention to include identification of the causes of teacher shortages and the state's educational system's future demand for teachers. The study committee shall develop recommendations for the General Assembly to consider which include, but are not limited to, building teacher recruitment; alternative certification; financial incentives; induction and mentorship; evaluation and feedback; and teacher leadership. The study committee shall be comprised of the following members:

(1) Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, or his designee; (2) Chairman of the House Education and Public Works Committee, or his designee; (3) Chairman of the Senate Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, or his designee; (4) Chairman of the House Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee, or his designee; (5) Senate Majority Leader, or his designee; (6) Senate Minority Leader, or his designee; (7) House Majority Leader, or his designee; (8) House Minority Leader, or his designee; (9) Chairman of the State Board of Education, or his designee; (10) Chairman of the Palmetto State Teacher's Association, or his designee; (11) Chairman of the South Carolina Education Association, or his designee; (12) Superintendent from a small School District appointed by the Governor; (13) Superintendent from a medium School District appointed by the Governor; (14) Superintendent from a large School District appointed by the Governor; Of the three Superintendents appointed by the Governor, at least one Superintendent must come from a plaintiff trial district in the Abbeville lawsuit; (15) Executive Director of CERRA; (16) Chairman of the Education Oversight Committee; (17) Two Deans of Colleges of Education appointed by the Governor; and (18) State Superintendent of Education who shall serve as Chairman of the Committee. Staff support shall be provided by the Department of Education, with assistance from the staffs of the Senate Education Committee and the House Education and Public Works Committee, upon request. Findings and recommendations shall be submitted to the General Assembly by December 31, 2017.

Work Completed

The committee met on five separate occasions--August 10, September 21, October 19, November 15, and December 20, 2017--to discuss challenges related to educator recruitment and retention in South Carolina. The following is a breakdown of the five meetings and the meeting documents can be found in the links listed below:

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1. August 10, 2017 The committee heard from Jane Turner, Executive Director of CERRA (Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement), Mary Hipp, Director of Teacher Certification at the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE), and Dr. Falicia Harvey from the Commission on Higher Education (CHE). A link to all meeting documents and presentations may be found here:

2. September 21, 2017 The committee heard from Dr. Jon Pederson, Dean of Education at the University of South Carolina, and Dr. Jennie Rakestraw, Dean of Education at Winthrop University regarding the Colleges of Education's role in teacher shortage in South Carolina. The committee also convened a panel of five teachers from around the state to address their point of view with regard to educator recruitment and retention. The following five teachers participated in the panel: a. Ann Blackman, 2nd grade Teacher, Summerton Early Childhood Center, Clarendon School District One; b. Erin Fox, English Teacher, Gaffney High School, Cherokee County School District, 2018 State Teacher of the Year; c. Justin Goldsmith, 5th Grade Teacher, Legacy Early College Middle School, South Carolina Public Charter School District; d. Patrick Kelly, AP U.S. Government Teacher, Blythewood High School, Richland School District Two, Teacher Fellow at US Department of Education; and e. Vanessa Torres, Spanish Teacher, Nursery Road Elementary School, Lexington- Richland District Five, 2017 Milken Educator of Year. A link to all meeting documents may be found here:

3. October 19, 2017 The committee heard from Andy Baxter, Vice President of Educator Effectiveness with Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), Dr. Russell Booker, Superintendent, Spartanburg School District Seven, and Dr. Roy Jones, Executive Director of the Call Me MISTER Program, and Jane Turner, Executive Director of CERRA on the Rural Recruitment Initiative. A link to all meeting documents may be found here:

4. November 15, 2017 The committee debated, discussed, and voted on recommendations to be included in the report. A link to all meeting documents may be found here:

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5. December 20, 2017 The committee met to vote on the final draft of the report.

Public Comment and Feedback from Educators

In addition, the committee created a feedback form for teachers and educators to submit on the SCDE's website; almost 200 public comments were received. A link to the forms may be found here: comments-received-as-of-12-12-17/. The following is a breakdown of the six major issues teachers and educators viewed as reasons for teacher shortage and recruitment issues:

1. 128/197 submissions listed low salary as the major issue for teachers entering and staying in the profession;

2. 119/197 submissions listed lack of support in the classroom and lack of support from administrators as the major issues for teachers entering and staying in the profession;

3. 95/197 submissions listed accountability/student performance demands as the major issue for teachers entering and staying in the profession;

4. 29/197 submissions listed student discipline as the major issue for teachers entering and staying in the profession;

5. 23/197 submissions listed student loan forgiveness as the major issue for teachers entering and staying in the profession; and

6. 15/197 submissions listed the Retirement Cap/end the TERI program as the major issue for teachers entering and staying in the profession.

(See Appendix B for the full chart)

Participants 1. State Superintendent Molly M. Spearman, Chairman; 2. Senator Greg Hembree, Chairman of Senate Education Committee designee; 3. Rep. Rita Allison, Chairman of House Education and Public Works Committee; 4. Senator Sandy Senn, Chairman Senate LCI Committee designee; 5. Rep. Mike Anthony, Chairman of House LCI Committee designee; 6. J. Steven English, Principal, McCormick High School, Senate Majority Leader designee; 7. Senator John Matthews, Senate Minority Leader designee; 8. Rep. Raye Felder, House Majority Leader designee; 9. Superintendent Jesulon Gibbs-Brown, House Minority Leader designee; 10. Dr. Sharon Wall, Chairman of the State Board of Education designee; 11. Kathy Maness, Chairman of Palmetto State Teacher's Association designee; 12. Bernadette Hampton, Chairman of the SC Education Association designee; 13. Superintendent Fay Sprouse, Gubernatorial Appointee (Small District); 14. Superintendent Jesse Washington, Gubernatorial Appointee (Medium District); 15. Superintendent Stephen Hefner, Gubernatorial Appointee (Large District); 16. Jane Turner, Executive Director of CERRA;

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17. Neil Robinson, Chairman of the Education Oversight Committee; 18. Dean Jon Pederson, Gubernatorial Appointee (College of Education); 19. Dean Jennie Rakestraw, Gubernatorial Appointee (College of Education).

Recommendations

The following recommendations were adopted by the committee on November 15, 2017. They include best practices as well as proposals for changes in legislation:

Salary Recommendations 1. Raise the overall teacher salary and make teacher salaries more competitive while taking into consideration the following: ? Allocate stipends for teachers in areas of high poverty; ? Extend teacher salary step increases; and ? Raise the $10,000 salary cap for retired teachers in the highest poverty areas or those with the lowest index of tax-paying ability to include schools and districts.

Raising the teacher salary is a top priority and was listed as the number one reason in feedback received from educators as to why teachers are leaving the classroom or as a deterrent from entering the profession. The Teacher Salary Schedule Structure Committee recommended increasing the base salary in the current state salary schedule to "reflect a starting salary that more competitive and based on current stating salaries across employment markets." (Appendix E). The average entry wage of a teacher ($14.20/hour) falls below many other professions requiring a bachelor's degree and licensure including landscape architects ($15.64/hour), accountants ($16.32/hour), environmental scientists ($15.97/hour), athletic trainers ($14.82/hour), and social workers ($15.87/hour). All positions in the teaching profession require an internship/residency, while some of these professions require neither. (Appendix A).

Step increases in the salary schedule are recommended at the beginning for years 0? 2, and at the end of the salary schedule to ensure that the state minimum goes to 30 years. The State Minimum Salary Schedule (SMSS) contains 24 steps that are years of experience. A teacher moves up a step each year. There is a corresponding step increase in salary each year that averages about 2 percent per teacher for each year of experience on the salary schedule. The current SMSS may be found here:

2. In conjunction with the Public Employee Benefits Authority (PEBA), the State Board of Education (SBE) will work together to set the critical needs geographic and subject areas list to determine the fiscal impact of expanding the list to incorporate more geographic needs areas as well as critical subject areas.

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Since 1999, South Carolina has identified critical and geographic areas. Pursuant to Section ? 9-1-1795 of the South Carolina Code of Laws,

Employment of certain retired teachers without loss of retirement benefits; procedure by which retired teachers may be employed.

(A) A retired member of the system may return to employment covered by the system without affecting the monthly retirement allowance he is receiving from the system if the retired member is a certified teacher and is employed by a school district to teach in the classroom in his area of certification in a critical academic need area or geographic need area as defined by the State Board of Education.

(B) For the provisions of this section to apply, the Department of Education must review and approve, from the documentation provided by the school district, that no qualified, nonretired member is available for employment in the position, and that the member selected for employment meets the requirements of this section. However, a school district may not consider a member of the system for employment before May thirty-first of each year. After approval is received from the Department of Education, school districts must notify the State Board of Education of the engagement of a retired member as a teacher and the department must notify the State Retirement System of their exemption from the earnings limitation. If the employing district fails to notify the department of the engagement of a retired member as a teacher, the district shall reimburse the system for all benefits wrongly paid to the retired member.

(C) A school district shall pay to the system the employer contribution for active members prescribed by law with respect to any retired member engaged to perform services for the district regardless of whether the retired member is a full-time or part-time employee, a temporary or permanent employee. If a district which is obligated to the system pursuant to this subsection fails to pay the amount due, as determined by the system, the amount must be deducted from any funds payable to the district by the State.

(D) Beginning July 1, 2001, any retired certified school teacher or certified employee may be employed in a school or school district which is in a critical geographic need area or has received a `below average' or `unsatisfactory' academic performance rating to the Education Accountability Act without penalty from the South Carolina Retirement System.

HISTORY: 1999 Act No. 100, Part II, Section 82, eff July 1, 1999; 2000 Act No. 387, Part II, Section 11A, eff July 1, 2000; 2000 Act No. 393, Section 17, eff August 1, 2000; 2001 Act No. 64, Section 1, eff June 28, 2001. Editor's Note 1999 Act No. 100, Part II, Section 82A, provides as follows: "The General Assembly finds that: "(1) educational improvement is the primary issue in this State and that teaching experience is one of the keys to educational improvement; "(2) South Carolina is faced with a teacher shortage; and

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