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Teach Plus invites teachers to apply for the Teach Plus South Carolina Inquiry Fellowship, a prestigious paid leadership opportunity designed for exceptional South Carolina educators. This fellowship aims to engage excellent, experienced and diverse educators in an inquiry process to identify what has improved for students in South Carolina education over the last 10-20 years, and where the system may still be falling short. The goal is to work with this cohort of teachers to highlight successes, identify opportunities to unlock and enhance outcomes for all students, and build a movement of teacher leaders focused on improving education in South Carolina.
What is the Teach Plus South Carolina Inquiry Fellowship?
- Inquiry Fellows expand their influence without leaving the classroom, starting in September 2024 and concluding in June 2025.
- Teachers are recruited statewide, with a particular focus on those serving low-income communities.
- Fellows participate in monthly sessions to develop their knowledge, leadership, and systems-orientation (dates TBD).
- Fellows receive training through expert-led modules and direct engagement with key stakeholders. No prior policy experience required.
- Fellows receive a $1,200 stipend for their commitment.
How does it work?
Teach Plus recruits and carefully selects teachers for the Teach Plus South Carolina Inquiry Fellowship from diverse regions across the state to engage in this in-depth leadership experience. As a Fellow, you’ll join a dynamic community of education leaders and thinkers and play a vital role in identifying and creating a plan for improving education in the Palmetto state. Teach Plus collaborates with key stakeholders and policymakers to ensure teachers have a seat at the table in shaping meaningful conversations and decisions.
What Does Teach Plus Do?
We develop teachers as leaders and empower them to take action. Through our programs, we grow teachers’ expertise to break down barriers in the areas of equity ripe for change.
Our mission is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that advance equity, opportunity, and student success. Our work is driven by our Student Opportunity Mandate, which is rooted in the belief all students should have the opportunity to achieve their potential in an education system defined by its commitment to equity, its responsiveness to individual needs, and its ability to prepare students for postsecondary success.
Teach Plus provides comprehensive training that equips teachers with the necessary skills to understand education policy as a means to drive student success. Our training includes state policy analysis, data inquiry, power mapping, strategic planning & positioning, and leadership development. We strive to create pathways and genuine opportunities for teachers to lead effectively in shaping policy decisions so that all students have the opportunity to succeed.
In the eleven states where we currently operate, we pursue our work through two types of fellowships. The Inquiry Fellowship is an exciting new opportunity for teachers to engage in exploratory work to improve opportunities for impactful teacher leadership in South Carolina. In the past, Teach Plus has empowered teacher leaders to improve outcomes for students through:
- Winning a historic pay raise in Mississippi, increasing the state’s average teacher pay by about $5,100 per year, through a two-year advocacy campaign that encompassed meetings with legislators, the #RaiseMSTeacherPay social media campaign to highlight stories of teachers taking on second and third jobs to make ends meet, a policy brief, op-eds, and interviews with the media.
- Ensuring students are on track for high school through teacher leadership and continuous improvement at a network of 15 middle schools in Chicago. Steered by teacher leaders, highlights from across the network include schools that had 100 percent of students improve targeted quarter grades by one or more letter grade (after getting the opportunity to provide more voice in their assessment and learning activities), and schools recording an 83 percent drop in student referrals.
- Passage of a historic school finance bill in Texas, HB 3, that invested 6.5 billion new dollars in education. The bill expanded full-day preschool, provided new options for teacher advancement and compensation, added nearly $1 billion in targeted resources for the state’s highest-need students, prioritized early literacy, and added an additional $1,000 per student in every Texas school. Teacher Leaders testified, met with legislators, hosted legislative briefings, authored op-eds, talked with the media—and saw every single one of their priorities enacted into law.
Qualifications
- Be a current teacher of record with at least two (2) full years of teaching experience by August 2024
- Have a proven track record of successfully teaching students in district or charter public schools within South Carolina.
- Be prepared to devote your time and passion to learning about education policy and creating a plan for changes that positively impact students.
- Be available to attend the kickoff event in September (exact dates to be determined).
- Be willing to commit to attending monthly cohort meetings, and special meetings (when possible), and actively participating within your assigned working group.
Application Process
Part 1 – Written Application
The written application asks you to complete general demographic information, short responses, and upload a resume. Applications are due July 12, 2024.
Part 2 – Interview
You will be notified if you have been invited to participate in an interview. Interviews will take place virtually on July 22 – August 2, 2024.
Part 3 – Selection
You will be notified if you have been selected to join the South Carolina Inquiry Fellowship. If accepted, you will commit to attending the kick-off session in September (exact dates and location TBD) and monthly sessions throughout the fellowship.
Questions? Email Dan Scarver at dscarver@teachplus.org
Know a teacher leader?
Nominate a teacher who wants to achieve change in their schools and in the broader education system.
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