The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) consulted with the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) team leader regarding the specific changes needed to the adult education communication brochure. Those changes will be made and resubmitted to the Office of Adult Education. The Office of Adult Education sent a team of four to the work-based learning workshop, which was co-hosted by the Georgia Department of Education, Career & College Readiness & Success (CCRS) Center, and SECC on September 24–25 in Savannah, Georgia. As a result of attending, the team identified the following as future topics to explore: apprenticeship development, professional development/externships, states with adult education and career and technical education (CTE) (K–12), and stronger connections between business/education. They also shared that future technical assistance may be needed with upcoming professional development associated with changes in the law and their department. The Adult Education Office provided hard copies of the Early Care and Education Career Pathway Documents A and B to use with developing the Generational Family Services framework; an electronic copy will also be sent. A planning call will be scheduled in October to outline key information for the framework, to make changes to the communication brochure for resubmission to the Office of Adult Education.

The SCDE requested support directly related to Years 5 and 6 work supporting the low-performing schools, early childhood, and innovation and effectiveness, as well as the fast response work in Year 6.

The Southeast Comprehensive Center (SECC) South Carolina state liaison was notified that there will be another change with who will be the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) contact. The deputy superintendent for Innovation and Effectiveness will now serve as the SECC/SCDE contact. The SECC state liaison met with the deputy superintendent for Innovation and Effectiveness on August 16 to develop the Year 7 Work Plan. The division of Innovation and Effectiveness is requesting support with establishing a communication plan. The Office of Early Childhood is in need of support with developing the South Carolina balanced literacy framework/plan. The Office of School Transformation is requesting assistance with the development of a program evaluation of the transformational coaches’ program. Staff from SECC and the SCDE Office of Adult Education developed a draft communication brochure, which is considered a fast response support piece. Feedback was received from Adult Education. The Adult Education Office is waiting for the Generational Family Services Task Force to determine their needs. Once needs are determined, SECC will be contacted for support with developing the Generational Family Services framework.

In September, the SECC state liaison and the deputy superintendent for Innovation and Effectiveness will meet to finalize the Year 7 Work Plan and establish a tentative meeting schedule. The SECC state liaison will provide both teams’ project leads with a contact matrix and the work plan at-a-glance. Additionally, SECC will make changes and resubmit the document to the Office of Adult Education.

SECC staff met with the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) director of adult education to discuss the status of the fast response request to include elements for the framework (Adult Education Integrated Education Training [IET] Framework and logic model), an implementation guide for the WorkLink process, and a Generational Family Services framework to accompany the Adult Education IET framework. The director of adult education indicated that any additional support will be determined after the Office of Adult Education identifies gaps within the draft framework. SECC and the SCDE director of adult education discussed the Career Pathways and assigned related regions within the state. Also, the current priority is on work resulting from recently-approved funding by the state legislature regarding on-the-job coaches to support student workers. Assistance initially needed for the Work Link is no longer needed; instead support is sought from SECC for a one-page communication outlining elements of the SC Integrated Education Training framework. The team leader will be consulted and SECC will be contacted for further details to provide the support. A follow-up conference call for SECC and the SCDE director of adult education was conducted in late July. SECC provided a sample document for the one-page communication.  SCDE will send four participants to the Career and College Readiness and Success (CCRS) Center’s State Work-Based Learning Workshop in September in Savannah, Georgia. SECC staff met with the SCDE chief of staff who is newly assigned to be the SECC/SCDE contact. She provided several key areas (low-performing schools, educator effectiveness, and personalized learning) where support may be needed but will confirm priority areas for Year 7 support after the state superintendent retreat in early August.

In August, SECC will continue to work with the assigned Office of Adult Education staff to complete the one-page communication. Also, SECC will collaborate with the assigned team leader from the Office of Adult Education to discuss and assist with the Generational Family Services (GFS) framework. SECC will meet with the SCDE chief of staff after the SCDE superintendent’s retreat for confirmation of priority areas for support for the Year 7 plan.     

As evidence of improvement, the director of adult education indicated that the one-page communication would serve as a reference document to be left with stakeholders following presentations about the IET framework and initiatives.

The final Inter-Rater Reliability Training (webinar) occurred on June 4. SECC met with the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) director of Adult Education to set the agenda for their upcoming work session and review the Adult Education Integrated Education Training (IET) Framework and logic model as well as the Generational Family Services Framework to accompany the Adult Education IET Framework. Discussion and determination of a SCDE team participating in the Career and College Readiness and Success Center’s (CCRS) work-based learning workshop on September 24–25. SECC and SCDE staff discussed the career Pathways and assigned related regions within the state.        

In July, the SCDE director of Adult Education will review the IET framework/logic model and Career Pathways. SECC and the SCDE chief strategy officer will meet to develop the draft Year 7 Work Plan.     

As evidence of improvement, SCDE wants support with creating a workforce framework that will guide South Carolina educators in developing and implementing regional IET programs. The framework will assist in providing statewide expectations and consistency for adult education programs and policy in the state.

SECC conducted internal review of the logic model content (milestones, outcomes, indicators) and Integrated Education and Training (IET) framework before meeting with the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) director of Adult Education. Several recommendations were made for clarification and coherence. Additionally, SECC and SCDE Adult Education team members met to revise and to prep for the on-site Inter-Rater Reliability Training scheduled for late May and early June. The late May training occurred as scheduled.           

In June, the recommendations on the logic model content and IET framework will be addressed before having another meeting with the director. During the May training, one of the SCDE Adult Education staff inquired about assistance with an early childhood framework component for the Adult Education Office. It was recommended to discuss the request with the Adult Education director first in case SCDE moves forward with a formal request for SECC support. SECC will move forward with the discussion in June. 

As evidence of improvement, SCDE Adult Education staff set out to address their need to support the varying forms of adult education across the state. More specifically, SCDE wants support with creating a workforce framework and tool that will guide South Carolina educators in developing and implementing regional IET programs. The framework and tool will assist in providing statewide expectations and consistency for adult education programs and policy in the state.

During the quarterly meeting with the chief state strategy officer at the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE), it was shared that the request for SECC assistance with the analysis and development of a report on alternative and traditional educator preparation programs in the state of South Carolina will be discontinued. Additionally, SECC met with the director of Adult Education at SCDE and discussed the logic model content (identify milestones, timelines and outcomes) preparing for the development of the Integrated Education and Training (IET) framework. The status of the SCDE Inter-Rater Reliability Training was discussed; two joint webinar trainings were completed. SECC assisted with developing the training presentation. Applications will be sent for raters to complete. SECC also facilitated a meeting with American Institute For Research’s Adult Education Research and Technical Assistance Center (AERTAC) to share information regarding available resources and possible future trainings. 

SECC met with the chief state strategy officer and the director of Educator Services at the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) to discuss data availability and report formatting. The chief state strategy officer provided the state data for analysis for the report. SECC met with American Institute for Research (AIR) researchers to discuss the data’s content and outline. AIR researchers provided several questions related to the content for analysis. Additionally, SECC met with the director of Adult Education for SCDE and the chief state strategy officer to discuss the need for assistance in the department. The director of Adult Education also shared elements from the first module for the framework to be used for this work. The director of Adult Education discussed the following areas of technical assistance support: (a) assistance with the development of a South Carolina Integrated Education Training Framework, (b) information on what other identified states have implemented in the area of adult education (SCDE will provide the states on which SECC will focus its efforts), and (c) assistance with the development of an implementation guide for the WorkLink process.

In April, SECC will facilitate a meeting with the chief state strategy officer, the director of Educator Services, and AIR researchers to discuss researchers’ follow-up questions related to the content and outline of the provided data for analysis. SECC also will continue to follow up with the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders to discuss its findings. Additionally, SECC will meet with the director of Adult Education to discuss logic model content leading to a framework. SECC will follow up with AIR’s Adult Education Research and Technical Assistance Center for resources and possibly more specific support.

The chief state strategy officer of the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) has requested assistance from SECC on the development and analysis of a report on alternative and traditional educator preparation programs in the state of South Carolina. During the month of February, SECC met with the chief state strategy officer to determine the basis for the request, its purpose, and the teacher quality data available to complete this request. SECC also met with the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center) to identify states that have developed reports of this nature and the various indicators utilized in their reports. In March, SECC will meet with the chief state strategy officer and the director of Educator Services to discuss data availability and formatting of the report. SECC also will continue to follow up with the GTL Center to discuss its findings. As evidence of improvement, SCDE recently revised its educator preparation guidelines to infuse the requirements of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate and to develop a plan for the continuous evaluation and upgrading of standards for program approval of the state’s teacher preparation programs by the state board of education, SCDE, and the Commission of Higher Education. This report will assist in informing teacher preparation programs and policy in the state.

The director of School Transformation at the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) assigned a member of the School Transformation Team to serve as a secondary contact person to maintain the ebb and flow of the work. Additionally, SECC provided resources to support the SCDE Department of School Transformation’s interest in establishing principal pipelines for recruiting and retaining school leaders for low-performing schools. In February, the SECC South Carolina liaison will make arrangements to have a meeting with the newly-assigned secondary contact person from the Department of School Transformation.

The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) director of transformation and the SECC project leader were scheduled to meet as a follow up of SECC providing evidence-based resources and principal pipeline resources. The meeting will be rescheduled to have the discussion concerning the evidence-based resources provided in October and the principal pipeline resources provided in December. In January, the chief strategy officer at SCDE and SECC South Carolina state liaison will meet to discuss future SECC support for other priority areas.

SECC followed up on the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) request from the October 25 meeting. Additionally, SECC communicated with the SCDE director of School Transformation. The SCDE director indicated that she had worked in North Carolina and had an awareness for how the agency approached school improvement; however, she will provide a date and time for a meeting with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) director of School Transformation. The SCDE director of School Transformation had not had a chance to review the provided evidence-based resources at the time of the follow up. She indicated that she will review the materials then follow up with SECC. SECC provided additional evidence-based resources (pamphlets) correlated to the evidence-based resources previously sent. In December, for the monthly meeting, the SCDE director and SECC state liaison will have a phone conference to discuss the evidence-based resources provided.

SECC staff and the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) Director of School transformation met to provide specificity on SCDE's needs for each specific milestone. SECC was informed that SCDE had already started to work on the professional learning modules aligned to the SCDE workbook of evidence-based practices. SECC will now need to provide content quality assurance reviews instead of developing the actual professional learning modules. Comprehensive work of the SCDE cross-office collaborative (Special Education, School Transformation, Instruction) to support the rural professional learning collaborative (currently in inception stage) has not begun. SCDE will keep SECC abreast as their work progresses. In November, SECC will provide information on Kentucky, Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, and Massachusetts principal pipelines for programs for low-performing schools. Additionally, SECC will provide the SCDE with the available resources to help inform district and school leaders with priority and Title I schools about how to choose evidence-based practices for their schools. The SECC South Carolina state liaison will meet with the SECC North Carolina state liaison to set up a conference call between the North Carolina director of School Improvement and the SCDE director of School Transformation to exchange ideas and discuss the challenges of providing a tiered system of support associated with an increased number of schools to be supported with continued levels of staffing and funding.