Leaders from K-12, Higher Education, Economic/Workforce Development and business and industry across the Upstate convened twice during 2018 for spring and fall forums, involving 110 professionals from across these sectors.
Facilitated by Dr. Ansel Sanders of Public Education Partners, the group first met in February discuss the potential value and areas of focus from enhancing the connectivity and collaborative opportunities among the education spectrum. During the fall forum in September, the group identified and targeted the region’s teacher shortage as a key issue to work on. For the 2017-2018 school year, an alarming 4,900 teachers in SC left the profession while education programs at SC colleges and universities produced less than 1,700 new teachers, resulting in a deficit of more than 3,200 teachers across the state (CERRA, 2018).
The group has formed three work groups to address various facets of the teacher shortage, and plan to present findings and recommendations to the Education Spectrum at the Spring Forum in May 2019. Below are the three committees as well as our Chairperson for each group. Each committee will be starting work this month in preparation for the Education Spectrum meeting.
·
Teacher Recruitment & Retention – Chair:
Margaret Spivey, Greenville County Schools
·
Understanding the Challenges – Chair:
Dr. Laura Reynolds, USC Upstate
·
Profession Elevation – Chair:
Randall Fowler, Legacy Early College
If you are interested in serving on one of the three Teacher Shortage committees, please contact
Dewey Evans, TATT Program Manager.
