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We're proud of our track record of gaining the highest attainable level of recognition as an Educator Preparation Provider (EPP) and Professional Education Unit (PEU).

Our commitment to quality programs in educator preparation is evidenced by our EPP and PEU accreditation and recognition at the state and national levels. This recognition comes as part of following a Continuous Improvement model set by its accrediting and governing bodies for educator preparation.

Unit

The PEU is fully accredited, having met all six standards for initial teacher preparation following its joint State Department and NCATE (now CAEP) visit in Fall 2012. The next site visit for The School of Education will be Fall 2019 This reaffirmation comes with no areas for improvement and is a model of exemplary performance for a Unit.

Program

Individual programs have also come before their cyclical reviews. The following EPPs have submitted their reports to their governing bodies and received recognition decisions:

• Middle Level Education - Nationally recognized by AMLE August 2012. All areas met with no conditions
• Early Childhood Education - Nationally recognized by NAEYC August 2013. All areas met with no conditions
• Elementary Education - Nationally recognized by ACEI February 2014. All areas met with no conditions
• Music Education - Approved for full membership by the Commission on Accreditation of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), announced July 2014 following the Department of Music's evaluation to advance from its initial 2004 associate membership

Teacher Candidate & Completer Performance

Teacher Candidates are students who have been formally accepted into a teacher education program. Candidate data are provided that represent their demographics and performance in the program.

Completers are teacher candidates who have met all requirements for program completion academically, completed their student teaching internship and have been recommended for licensure.

Tracking of the last 3 years of completers from the PEU (Sep. 2013 - Aug. 2016) is currently at 100% through self-reporting and the SC Department of Education ADEPT system. Placements include K-12 teaching positions in multiple school districts and academies, graduate studies, and more. Prospects for completers are estimated according to the National Education Association. The average beginning teaching salary in South Carolina is $31,710 and the overall average teaching salary in South Carolina is $47,833 (sourced here). Teaching jobs in South Carolina account for over 72% of our completers' placements.

The Offices of Academic Student Support Services, Educational Technology, and Professional Field and Clinical Experiences collect data on candidates at various transition points for the purposes of teacher candidate, program and unit assessment. These data are analyzed periodically by the Unit Assessment Committee to inform the Continuous Improvement process by making recommendations to EPP faculty and the institution with the aid of the Unit's Teacher Education Council. Data collected include results of internal assessments, state licensure tests and exit surveys. Data also include follow-up survey results from completers and employers, typically one (1) or more years after program completion.

For validity and privacy considerations, aggregated programmatic assessment data are not displayed on cohorts with numbers less than 10 in any periods.