About the Teacher Cadet Program
Inside the classroom...
Mission
The primary goal of the Teacher Cadet Program is to encourage academically able students who possess exemplary interpersonal and leadership skills to consider teaching as a career. An important secondary goal of the Program is to provide these talented future community leaders with insights about teachers and schools so that they will be civic advocates of education.
The Teacher Cadet Program is an innovative approach designed to attract talented young people to the teaching profession through a challenging introduction to teaching. The Program seeks to provide high school students insight into the nature of teaching, the problems of schooling and the critical issues affecting the quality of education in America's schools.
Piloted in four high schools in South Carolina in 1986-87, the Teacher Cadet Program has grown to include approximately 175 South Carolina high schools serving over 2,000 academically-able high school junior and seniors annually. More than 42,000 students have participated in the Teacher Cadet program in the past 22 years. The honors-level, college credit course is taught for a minimum of one class period per day for a year or the equivalent of that amount of time in contact hours. The Teacher Cadet program is not a club; if you are interested in more information about CERRA's coordination of the South Carolina branch of the Future Educators Association (an affiliate of Phi Delta Kappa, International).
Student Eligibility Requirements
-B average in college preparatory (or the equivalent) courses
-Five written teacher recommendations
-Essay on why the student wants to participate in the class
-Interviews (optional)
Curriculum
-Experiencing Education, 9th Edition and Instructor's Manual
(written and revised by South Carolina's Teacher Cadet instuctors)
-Three supplemental curriculum for science, math and foreign language
-A variety of hands-on activities and a strong emphasis on
observations and field experiences
-Three themes: Experiencing the Learner, Experiencing the Profession,
and Experiencing the Classroom
College Partnerships
Twenty-one of South Carolina's 30 colleges and universities with teacher education programs provide support to the Teacher Cadet sites. We are proud to say that nearly 100% of the college partners grant college credit and/or accept college credit for satisfactory completion of the course.
Plans to Teach
External evaluations of the Teacher Cadet Program have confirmed that the Program is an effective tool for recruiting students who are high academic achievers into the teaching profession. An average of 37 percent of all students who have taken part in the Teacher Cadet Program over the years indicate plans to pursue teaching credentials upon entering college. Of the 2006-2007 Cadet class, 39 percent plan to enter teaching, according to the post-course survey. Education was selected significantly more often as a career choice than any other career option. Responses indicate that more than approximately 700 Teacher Cadets each year plan to pursue teaching upon entering college.
Supporting the Program
Each Teacher Cadet class receives a grant to purchase supplies, develop curriculum materials and provide additional activities for the class. The grant amount is based on allocations of $250 for sites with 15 or more students. Sites with fewer than 15 students received $16.65 per student with no site receiving less than the base grant of $100. These funds were used to provide teaching related activities, speakers, college campus visits, classroom supplies, film and processing, receptions and workshops. Additional funds were allotted for each site to cover the cost of training and materials incurred by CERRA. In addition, CERRA's accomplished teachers-in-residence provide on-site and online mentoring for new instructors.
Other States/Districts Replicating South Carolina's Teacher Cadet Program
The Teacher Cadet program has been implemented at the school, district and state-level in 30 states since 1986.
SAY, MAY and FLAY Programs
In order to meet the increasing shortages of skilled teachers in such critical areas as math science and foreign languages, the Teacher Cadet Program has created and adopted programs to encourage students to become interested in teaching in these critical subject areas. The SAY (Science and Youth), MAY (Math and Youth) and FLAY (Foreign Language and Youth) curriculums have been developed and adapted by creative and talented Teacher Cadet instructors in the program for use with peer lessons, field experiences and academic fairs. Interactive lessons interest students in these critical subjects.
For more information about the Teacher Cadet program, contact Marcella Wine-Snyder, Program Director, CERRA, Stewart House at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC 29733, 803-323-4032 or 1-800-476-2387.