The South Carolina Department of Education is partnering with the Maxwell Leadership Foundation to provide the iLead Student Curriculum to upper elementary, middle and high schools for implementation in Fall 2023.

Contact Sarah Gams, ssgams@ed.sc.gov with questions.

Military Recruiters from the following branches: Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, Army/Army Reserve, National Guard, and Air Force have entered into a memorandum of understanding to create a centralized process for the request and release of directory information. The U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion (USARB) is managing that process. USARB have agreed to request this information from the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE).

Please contact Dan Ralyea Dralyea@ed.sc.gov with questions.

On May 18, 2018, Governor Henry McMaster signed into law Act 213, which directed districts to begin implementation of MTSS during the 2019–20 school year. Act 213 requires all districts and charter schools to report data on the implementation of MTSS and literacy universal screening procedures. These district reports are due to the SCDE by June 30, 2023.

If you have additional questions about the reporting requirements, please contact Abbey Duggins at asduggins@ed.sc.gov.

The Office of Educator Effectiveness and Leadership Development offers a variety of professional learning opportunities to support districts and schools to promote access to effective instruction for all students.

If you have any questions, contact Dr. Brandon Gantt, bgantt@ed.sc.gov.

The Office of Educator Effectiveness and Leadership Development is pleased to announce dates for instructional leadership development cohorts beginning summer and fall 2023. Our mission is to increase access to highly effective teaching and leadership for every student in South Carolina.

Contact the following for more information. Emerging leaders and school support staff, Keasha Grant, ksgrant@ed.sc.gov. Instructional Leaders, Coaches, and Assistant Principals, Tom Smith, tsmith@ed.sc.gov. District Leaders and Experienced Principals (3+ years), Dr. Gerard Edwards, gedwards@ed.sc.gov.

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) Office of Early Learning and Literacy (OELL) supports South Carolina’s (SC) districts and will offer several free professional learning opportunities (PLOs) for teachers, teaching assistants, reading coaches, instructional coaches, and administrators.

For more information concerning the OELL professional learning opportunities, please contact Wendy Burgess, Team Lead for Early Learning, at wburgess@ed.sc.gov, 803-734-5858, or Sherri Evans at sqevans@ed.sc.gov 803-734-1286.

The Office of Career and Technical Education & Student Transitions Services (OCTE & STS) and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) are working together to ensure that our Career and Technical Education (CTE) South Carolina has a statewide framework for Artificial Intelligence.

For more information about Artificial Intelligence contact Andrew Cook, Education Associate at acook@ed.sc.gov, 803-734-7168 or Dominick Sanders, Computer Science K-12 Specialist at dsanders@ed.sc.gov, 803-734-2862.

The OEELD seeks school teams of principals and teachers to be a part of Cohort Six of the Collective Leadership Initiative (CLI). Selected school teams will learn and implement the Collective Leadership Framework.

If you have any questions, please contact Keasha Grant at ksgrant@ed.sc.gov.

The Students Health and Fitness Act (SHFA) (S.C. Code § 59-10-10, et seq.) requires each South Carolina school district to report the number of minutes of daily physical education instruction, the number of minutes of daily physical activity, and a total of both to reflect the combined number of minutes per week.

Please contact Ben Miedema at bjmiedema@ed.sc.gov with questions.

Pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. § 9-1-1795 (Supp. 2022), beginning in School Year (SY) 2018–19 and annually thereafter, the State Board of Education (SBE) designates areas of critical academic need and critical geographic need for the employment of retired certified teachers who will be exempt from the earnings limitations imposed by S.C. Code Ann. § 9-1-1790.

Please email your questions or concerns to retireewaiver@ed.sc.gov.

The quality of teachers and leaders in a school directly impacts the quality of a student’s learning. Put simply, talent matters. The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) is committed to supporting school and district leaders to build expertise in best practices for recruiting, retaining, and developing high-quality teachers and leaders. As a part of this support, the SCDE is introducing a new Human Capital Dashboard.

Contact Lilla Toal Mandsager, lmandsager@ed.sc.gov with questions.

The South Carolina Principal Induction Program (PIP) is now accepting enrollment of all first-time principals for the 2023–2024 school year. Satisfactory completion of PIP is required for all first-time principals per S.C. Code Ann. §§ 59-5-60 and 59-24-80.

Please feel free to contact me at 803-896-0198 or at frobinson@ed.sc.gov if you have additional questions or concerns.

The Read to Succeed Team in the Office of Early Learning and Literacy (OELL) at the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) is gearing up to support districts for the 2023 Read to Succeed Summer Reading Camps (SRC).

Should you have questions regarding SRC, please contact Marie Gibbons at mgibbons@ed.sc.gov. If you have questions regarding the Read to Succeed PowerSchool summer setup, please contact the PowerSchool team at powerschool@ed.sc.gov.

On April 5, 2023, Governor Henry McMaster will proclaim April as the Month of the Military Child or “Purple Up! For Military Kids” in South Carolina to celebrate students whose service member parents serve and protect our country. Contact tkpriester@ed.sc.gov, or visit www.mic3.net.