FLORENCE — Teachers with alternative certifications fill classrooms in Florence 1 Schools.
The district welcomes at least 20 teachers each year who are seeking teacher certification through an alternative pathway. Some of those teachers have real-world experience in the subjects they’re teaching, others found their passion after getting a bachelor’s degree in another discipline.
Florence 1 Schools made room for more opportunity with its new district-embedded alternative certification, TeachFlorence1. The program is one of four of its kind in South Carolina and will increase access to training and support in the district.
“It’s very exciting,” said district Executive Director of Teaching and Learning Dr. Courtney Clayton. “We really feel like this is a way to retention for our teachers.”
The district has long used the Program of Alternative Certification for Educators, Teachers of Tomorrow and the American Board for alternative certifications. All three have different rules, requirements, coursework and offer varying grade-level certifications.
Though the district holds information sessions for the programs, most of the processes happen outside of the district. Online applications, third-party support and courses can leave prospective teachers feeling overwhelmed and discouraged, Director of Marketing and Talent Ashley Watson said.
Watson recruits and helps those hoping to teach in the district while pursuing an alternative certification find which program is right for them. The district’s new program is a game-changer for recruiting, she said.
“We don't have to send them somewhere else, we don't have to have them apply through somewhere else,” Watson said. “We have the resource right here in front of them.”
TeachFlorence1 will cut through the noise and confusion of using other programs, though the district will still work with those programs, Clayton said.
The new program will function similarly to other alternative certification pathways.
Applicants must have a bachelor’s degree with at least 18 hours of credit in the subject area they would teach along with a 2.75 grade point average. They also have to pass the Praxis II — a subject-area content knowledge test — before being accepted.
Those accepted into the program receive an alternative route teaching certificate while they complete the three-year program.
Participants will take Clemson University-affiliated teaching courses during the program. Some courses will be taught online by Clemson professors; Clayton will teach others in person and online.
Florence 1 Schools held four alternative certification sessions in 2023.
Participants will have a co-teacher — an experienced teacher in the same school — who will serve as a mentor. They’ll get support from their co-teachers through weekly meetings for the duration of the program.
“Teaching is a team effort, no matter how much experience you have,” Clayton said. “It's very much looking at the needs of the teachers and being able to address them immediately.”
Clayton and the district believe the increased in-house support will help bring teachers to the district. More importantly, Clayton said, it will encourage teachers to stay in the district.
Teacher vacancies have steadily increased in South Carolina since the 2019-2020 school year, according to data from the South Carolina Department of Education’s Teacher Recruitment Task Force Recommendations. At the start of the 2022-2023 school year, there were 1,473 vacancies — up from 1,063 in 2021, 699 in 2020 and 556 in 2019.
Teachers in the state have also been steadily leaving the profession since 2020. More than 6,100 teachers left the profession at the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
Greenville County School District has seen success with its district-embedded alternative certification program — Greenville Alternative Teacher Education Program — since its inception nearly a decade ago, Coordinator Dr. Candice Moore said. The district started the program with 10 participants, and the number has increased yearly since. There were 99 participants in the district’s latest class.
The district’s retention for alternative pathway teachers is as good as that of teachers who came from traditional teacher prep programs, Moore said. Benefits of the program extend beyond numbers.
“So the biggest value add that GATE teachers, or teachers from any alternative certification program, bring is how their content applies out in the real world,” Moore said. “Students need to know why is this relevant? Why is what I'm learning in this classroom right now relevant?”
Clayton believes TeachFlorence1 will boost the real-world benefit that career changers can bring to teaching, along with the recruitment and retention numbers.
The district already has 20 applicants for its new program — set to start around July, Clayton said. Aspiring teachers can learn more about applying at the district's website.
