What Can You Do With a Degree in secondary education?

College of Charleston students receive top-notch preparation for teaching at the secondary level by pairing a content major with a minor in secondary education. They know what to teach, how to teach, and who they are teaching. Our graduates’ success attests to the value of this approach: students in every content area have at least two job offers before they graduate.

Not only are graduates of the Charleston secondary education program successful in obtaining multiple job offers before they graduate, they demonstrate the strength of their career preparation by remaining in the profession. More than 90% of our teachers are still in the classroom after 10 years, and most importantly, they are still happy and productive.

College of Charleston secondary teachers are in demand: Principals in South Carolina school districts actively seek out and hire our graduates.

On the national level, the U.S. Department of Labor foresees excellent job opportunities in the teaching profession as retirements, especially among secondary school teachers, outweigh enrollment growth.

Education students benefit from diverse opportunities for field experiences and clinical practice. We have partnerships and agreements with high schools in urban Charleston as well as in the suburbs and rural areas of the surrounding area. Each one provides a different experience, with students drawn from a variety of socio-economic, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds – consistent with the local demographics.

Active Learning Opportunities

Field experiences. Supported by education department faculty, supervising teachers, and other professionals, you learn to bridge theory and practice. Field experiences provide you with an understanding of the dynamic relationship between teaching and learning. In a variety of different learning settings, you become knowledgeable about:

• Practices in addressing the needs of individual learners across age, gender, ability levels, cultures, and socioeconomic strata.
• The complexity of classroom management and leadership skills.The operation of school systems.
• The issues surrounding curriculum and instruction.

Level one: 75 hours of field experience in the junior year, equally divided among three courses. You are assigned to work with a mentoring teacher in your content area at a local high school.

Level two: 50 hours of field experience in the senior year: 15 hours for the course Literacy and Assessment in the Content Areas and 35 hours for teaching strategies. This secondary practicum experience is designed to give you the opportunity to experience the classroom from a teacher’s perspective prior to engaging in clinical practice.

Level three involves working the cooperating teachers’ schedules for a minimum of 14 weeks.

Clinical practice (student teaching) is the culmination of your preservice preparation program. Assisting, Developing, and Evaluating Professional Teaching (ADEPT), a South Carolina assessment system, provides a process and instrumentation to guide you, your supervisor and your cooperating teacher in assessing the quality of your performance.

South Carolina Student Education Association (S-SCEA). Membership is open to any student interested in teaching as a career. Preprofessional workshops and conferences, and professional development activities are among the services available to members.

Kappa Delta Pi. The College chapter of the international education honor society has more than 100 members. Many continue to participate in the society after graduation, so the group has a great mixture of undergraduate and graduate students, as well as school teachers and principals.

Other Special Opportunities

• School of Education, Health, and Human Performance building is a three-story, 30,000-square-foot structure, that houses faculty offices, multiple resource centers, conference rooms, and specialized ancillary spaces. This facility consolidates facilities for the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance into one central location.
• Charles and Andrea Volpe Center for Teaching and Learning is located on the second floor of the Thaddeus Street Education Center, across the street from the education building, and features state-ofthe- art resources for teacher education faculty and students.
• Office of Certification and Clinical Practice assigns faculty advisors to CofC students majoring or minoring in education. When students have completed all requirements for participation in a clinical practice experience, the Office of Certification and Clinical Practice assigns them to teachers and classrooms in local school districts. The staff can also answer questions related to South Carolina teacher certification requirements, as well as other states’ requirements.
• Charleston Math and Science Hub is one of 13 hubs in South Carolina established by the National Science Foundation’s South Carolina Statewide Systemic Initiative (SC SSI) to encourage improvements in science, mathematics, and technology education through comprehensive systemic change. The goal is for all South Carolina students to meet new and more challenging expectations for learning mathematics and science.
• The Lowcountry Hall of Science and Math was created through a cooperative effort of faculty members from the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance and the School of Sciences and Mathematics. The Lowcountry Hall of Science and Math includes four program offices: Charleston Math and Science Hub, master's of education in science and math, Project Oceanica, and the Southeast Regional Clearinghouse (SERCH). These programs are designed to improve the involvement of scientists and mathematicians with educators from kindergarten through graduate school. They are also designed to enhance the science and math backgrounds of pre-service teachers, K-12 teachers and students, higher education faculty, parents and the general public.

“The faculty in this program are amazing. They all truly care about their students and want them to succeed. Classes are taught in such a way that you both learn and observe many of the teaching techniques that you are expected to use in the classroom. And the class sizes are perfect – small enough that you have an opportunity to get to know your classmates and your professors. I have also learned much from teachers in the local schools. My cooperating teacher for my clinical practice was wonderful, knowledgeable, supportive and provided great constructive feedback. It was an awesome experience.”

Sara Smith ’06