Part-Time Teaching Licenses: South Carolina
Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy
Analysis of South Carolina's policies
South Carolina offers the Adjunct License as a part-time
license with minimal requirements. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree or
higher in the intended teaching field or a passing score on a subject-matter
exam. Candidates must also have five years of occupational experience in a
related field.
The state requires that the applicant's teaching position be less than a 0.5
full-time equivalent position and not exceed two-credit-bearing courses in an
academic year. Employment under this license must not displace a certified
teacher already employed.
Recommendations for South Carolina
Require applicants to pass a subject-matter test.
South Carolina is commended for offering a license that increases districts'
flexibility to staff certain subjects, including many STEM areas, that are
frequently hard to staff or may not have high enough enrollment to necessitate
a full-time position. Although this license is designed to enable individuals
who have significant content knowledge to teach, South Carolina should still
require a subject-matter test of all candidates, including those with a major
in the intended teaching field. While the state does require relevant
work experience and a content degree, only a subject-matter test ensures that
teachers on the Adjunct License know the specific content they will need to
teach.
State response to our analysis
South Carolina recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis. The state also commented that it is considering expansion of the adjunct certificate to include Career and Technology Education and fine arts/performing arts.
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South Carolina
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
- Admission into Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Reading Instruction
- Elementary Teacher Preparation in Mathematics
- Early Childhood
- Middle School Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation
- Secondary Teacher Preparation in Science and Social Studies
- Special Education Teacher Preparation
- Special Education Preparation in Reading
- Assessing Professional Knowledge
- Student Teaching
- Teacher Preparation Program Accountability
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
Identifying Effective Teachers
- State Data Systems
- Evaluation of Effectiveness
- Frequency of Evaluations
- Tenure
- Licensure Advancement
- Equitable Distribution
Retaining Effective Teachers
Exiting Ineffective Teachers
Pensions
Research rationale
Part-time licenses
can help alleviate severe shortages, especially in STEM subjects.
Some of the subject areas in which states face the greatest
teacher shortages are also areas that require the deepest subject-matter
expertise. Staffing shortages are
further exacerbated because schools or districts may not have high enough
enrollments to necessitate full-time positions.
Part-time licenses can be a creative mechanism to get content experts to
teach a limited number of courses. Of
course, a fully licensed teacher is best, but when that isn't an option, a
part-time license allows students to benefit from content experts—individuals
who are not interested in a full-time teaching position and are thus unlikely to
pursue traditional or alternative certification. States should limit requirements for part-time licenses to
those that verify subject-matter knowledge and address public safety, such as
background checks.
Part-Time Teaching Licenses: Supporting Research
The origin of this goal is the effort to find
creative solutions to the STEM crisis. While teaching waivers are not typically
used this way, teaching waivers could be used to allow competent
professionals from outside of education to be hired as part-time instructors to
teach courses such as Advanced Placement chemistry or calculus as long as the
instructor demonstrates content knowledge on a rigorous test. See NCTQ, "Tackling the STEM Crisis: Five steps your state can take to improve the quality and quantity of its K-12 math and science teachers", at: http://www.nctq.org/p/docs/nctq_nmsi_stem_initiative.pdf.
For
the importance of teachers' general academic ability, see R. Ferguson,
"Paying for Public Education: New Evidence on How and Why Money
Matters," Harvard Journal on Legislation,Volume 28, Summer 1991, pp. 465-498.
For
more on math and science content knowledge, see D. Monk, "Subject Area Preparation of Secondary Mathematics and Science Teachers and Student Achievement," Economics of Education Review, Volume 13, No. 2, June 1994, pp. 125-145; R. Murnane, "Understanding the Sources of Teaching Competence: Choices, Skills, and the Limits of Training," Teachers
College Record, Volume 84, No. 3, 1983, pp. 564-569.