Colonial Life’s partnership with the University of South Carolina (UofSC) aims to keep teachers in the classroom by providing them with professional development and personal support.
And Colonial Life has expanded its support of the Carolina Teacher Induction Program, CarolinaTIP with a $50,000 grant for the 2018-2019 school year.
“Investing in education and educators is one way Colonial Life can help with the state’s priority need of attracting and retaining quality teachers,” said Marie McGehee, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility.
The only program of its kind, CarolinaTIP demonstrates USC’s commitment to the success of its education graduates. The three-year support program is offered to recent University of South Carolina graduates and serves as a bridge of support for new teachers.
The program’s immediate short-term goal is to establish a third group of first-year teachers and to compile measurable outcome data. Longer-term goals include serving all USC education graduates and, eventually, all recent education graduates in the state.
In its second year, CarolinaTIP expanded to include 53 first-year teachers for a total of 68 participants in 38 Midlands schools spanning five districts: Richland One and Two, Lexington Two and Four, and Lexington-Richland Five.
The program arose from the national and statewide trend of teachers not returning to their same positions after their first school year.
The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement’s S.C. Annual Educator Supply and Demand Report found that 13% of the approximately 7,300 teachers who did not return to their same positions after the 2017-18 school year had no more than one year of teaching experience in the state, an increase of 1% from the previous year. The report also found that 35% of those who did not return had five or fewer years of experience.
