Executive Summary
The University of South Carolina (UofSC), Mira Education, and rural school districts in South Carolina are in partnership building a three-year, high-quality alternative teacher preparation pathway, CarolinaCAP. Supported by funds allocated via Proviso Proviso 1A.71 of the FY21 legislative proceedings, the CarolinaCAP team and district partners collaborated to make UofSC’s rigorous, university-based program widely available to rural candidates and school districts and further advance its commitment to preparing and supporting educators for systems most in need. (See Appendices A and B for more details about program components, personnel, and budget.)
CarolinaCAP made progress against year two goals despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Final approval of the program occurred February 11, 2020. The active recruitment period was therefore reduced to approximately four months, falling too late in the year to effectively capture a cohort of the originally planned size. To accommodate this delay, the team launched the program with candidates in July 2020, October 2020, and January 2021. Additionally, the pandemic shut down all face-to-face school operations in South Carolina approximately one month after that approval was secured. While CarolinaCAP benefitted from already having elements of virtual delivery in place, the disruption further interrupted recruitment and application efforts with districts and candidates and slowed approvals for those candidates in the pipeline. CarolinaCAP candidates received temporary certification for the 2020-21 school year and were not required to pass Praxis II before entering the program. For the 2020-21 school year, 34 CarolinaCAP candidates served students in 11 districts and 23 schools across South Carolina. Additionally, CarolinaCAP also supported 12 Transition to Teaching residents in two districts for a total of 46 candidates. (See Appendix C for more details about partners and candidates.) Eleven of the 34 CarolinaCAP candidates have passed Praxis II as of June 12, 2021, and four candidates have passed portions of the exam. Transition to Teaching residents were not required to pass Praxis II during their first year of residency. The remaining candidates and Transition to Teaching residents are in the process of completing Praxis II requirements.