2 days Ago
GREENVILLE — With teacher vacancies statewide still exceeding 1,000 in South Carolina, career-change programs for would-be educators are surging in popularity across South Carolina. But do they work? The Riley Institute at Furman University this week honored a program at Columbia College — a private, 2,000-student college in Columbia — for its success recruiting and training more than 100 people into the teaching field, including several who went on to be named teachers of the year. The program, dubbed Alternative Pathways to Educator Certification or "APEC," has since 2018 guided 111 teachers through alternative certification — meaning they did not graduate from a traditional teacher-training program.
Participants in the two-year program had a 95 percent retention rate, and its teachers went on to teach at 50 schools statewide, according to a release from the Riley Institute. Teachers that complete the program grow in confidence and resilience, qualities that make their lessons more engaging and classrooms more supportive, Marla Sanders, director of the APEC Center at Columbia College, said in the release. About the Education Lab The Post and Courier’s Education Lab focuses on issues and policies affecting South Carolina’s education system.
It is supported by donations and grants to the nonprofit Public Service and Investigative Fund, whose contributors are subject to the same coverage we apply to everyone else. For more information and to donate, go to postandcourierfund.com .
"It’s incredibly rewarding to witness the ripple effect of this work in schools and communities," Sanders said. As teacher vacancies persist in South Carolina, the state has since 2022 been studying ways to recruit and keep its teachers, including a study released earlier this month that recommends multiple ways for teachers to earn more money. Recruiting teachers from other fields through alternative certification programs has increased from roughly 20 percent of new hires in 2018 to more than 30 percent this year , according to data from the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement at Winthrop University.
For its work recruiting effective teachers, Columbia College has received the 2025 Dick and Tunky Riley WhatWorksSC Award. The award, which recognizes programs making a positive impact on public education, is named after former U.S.
Secretary of Education and two-term governor Richard Riley and his late wife Tunky. APEC teachers finish the program with a teaching certificate and a master's degree, according to a recent program presentation. Participants take master's level classes while teaching in a partnering school district under the supervision of a veteran teacher mentor.
The program's full price tag is about $22,000, but every participant receives loans and/or scholarships, according to the school. Also, the master's degree boosts their public-school salary by about $4,000 Thirty-seven of the 50 Midlands schools where APEC teachers have worked are underperforming, high-need schools, according to the Riley Institute release. "We are deeply honored to be recognized for our commitment to recruiting and retaining exceptional educators,” Columbia College’s education dean, Tracy West, said in the release.
The APEC Center will be honored alongside 2025 WhatWorksSC finalists, Greenville-based after-school and summer learning program YouthBASE, and ArtsNOW, a statewide arts integration program, at the 15th annual WhatWorksSC Award Celebration on May 1 in Columbia..
