Teacher Cadet (2015) | WhatWorksSC

The Teacher Cadet Program, administered by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Advancement (CERRA), is a highly effective high school recruitment program aimed at attracting the state’s “best and brightest” students to the teaching profession. Its mission is to “encourage academically able students who possess exemplary interpersonal and leadership skills to consider teaching as a career,” and it provides the opportunity for schools and districts to identify and recruit “homegrown” teachers and educators. Such an approach allows these talented students to return to their communities as education professionals, especially in hard-to-staff or rural areas. Piloted in four South Carolina high schools in 1986-87, the Teacher Cadet Program has grown to include approximately 165 sites that serve an average of 2,500 juniors and seniors annually. Teacher Cadet is a rigorous college level, dual credit accrual, AP-weighted course, and each school site is supported by one of 22 South Carolina teacher education institutions.