Policies to Enhance Higher Education's Professional Development Offerings to P-12 Teachers
The Policies developed that follow have been developed by the Commission's ad hoc Task Force on Graduate Teacher Education as a result of study and reflection formulated over the past three years. Different data sources have been used in their formulation, including the findings if the first cycle (1994-2000) of accreditation visits conducted by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, the statewide study of professional development conducted by the Education Oversight Committee (2000), and others. These policies are intended to enhance higher education's participation in the professional development of teachers, which occurs primarily through two distinct avenues: 1) graduate degree programs which may or may not lead to initial or add-on certifications; and 2) the offerings of other staff development activities, which typically include graduate courses oriented toward professional development and designed for more specific and immediate use than degree program courses and which focus on the career development of the professional educator over the long term.
- The institutions will align those courses and activities offered for
staff development and the professional development of teachers and other
personnel working in schools with the South Carolina Professional Development
Standards (March 2000), as these relate to post-secondary offerings.
These Standards are based on the national standards for staff development
by the National Staff Development Council in collaboration with the
American Association of School Administrators, the Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development, the National Education Association, the
National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Middle
School Associations and others.
- The Institutions will align their graduate degree programs for classroom
teachers with the core proposition of the National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards.
- The institutions will, where applicable, align degree programs as
well as courses and activities offered for staff development and the
professional development of teachers and other personnel working in
schools with standards of the International Society for Technology in
Education (2000) as a strategy for significantly enhancing the capacity
of pre-services as well as in -service teachers to incorporate technology
into teaching and learning.
- The institutions will follow the guidelines for Graduate courses Offered
for Professional Development of School Personnel promulgated by the
commission on Higher Education (November 2001) and follow the criteria
contained therein in the development and offering of graduate courses
whose primary focus is the professional development of school personnel.
- The institutions will continue to identify courses offered for staff
development and the professional development of teachers and other personnel
by using the "PD" designator in the course name or description to distinguish
these courses from those that are designed to support degree programs.
- Compliance with the above policies will be verified on an ongoing basis during the accreditation site visits conducted under the auspices of the State's Partnership agreement with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education.
Office of Professional Development
in Education
Bell Building, Room 304
81 St. Philip Street
Charleston, SC 29401
843.953.7651
Map
