Columbia, S.C. – State Superintendent of Education Molly M. Spearman announces that Francis Marion University recently awarded Master of Arts in Teaching Special Education degrees to a Cohort of 13 candidates.  The participants received full scholarships through the South Carolina Office of Special Education Services’ SC-CREATE program, which operates centers at 13 of the state’s leading colleges and universities, including Francis Marion.

“I am pleased to see this new cohort of educators will be in classrooms around our state in the next school year,” said Spearman.  “Their presence is needed and I hope other school staff may be inspired to become educators and use SC-CREATE as a pathway to higher education and a successful career in the classroom,” concluded Spearman.

Formerly employed as teacher assistants and other non-instructional staff in mostly rural areas of the state, cohort participants are now eligible for licensure through the South Carolina Department of Education as professional Special Education teachers.  “These outstanding graduates will fill a great void in special education classrooms,” said Dr. Cindi Nixon, cohort advisor.  Reiterating the importance of SC-CREATE, Dr. Shirley Bausmith, Dean and Center Director at Francis Marion said that “meeting teacher capacity needs in hard-to-staff schools is an important goal of this initiative.”

Currently in its 13th year of operation, SC-CREATE is an ongoing Department personnel preparation program that has assisted nearly 800 full-time employees representing 79 of the State’s 84 school districts in completing licensure programs in Special Education, Speech-Language Pathology, and Behavior Analysis since 2003.  Participants commit to returning three years of service in South Carolina public schools in exchange for scholarship funds.  “Increasing the pool of great teachers on our own here in South Carolina is the chief mission of SC-CREATE,” explains John R. Payne, Special Education Director for the South Carolina Department of Education.  “The end result is more highly trained instructors and related service providers for South Carolina students with disabilities.”

The National Association of State Directors of Special Education has recognized SC-CREATE as one of only a few model, state-level, homegrown Special Education teacher preparation initiatives in the nation.  In March 2015, SC-CREATE received the prestigious Exemplary Program Award for pre-service and in-service personnel preparation from the American Council on Rural Special Education.

All program coursework was delivered to participants remotely via distance/online format, the first occurrence of its kind in Special Education teacher preparation in South Carolina.

Photo caption, L-R: Back row, Tamora Parker (Barnwell 29); Angela McGinty (Fort Mill); Amy Cooper (Lexington One); Amy Keel (Anderson One); Dr. Cindi Nixon, Professor/Cohort Advisor; Courtney Johnson (Fort Mill); Brenda Marshall (Fort Mill); Tracy Terrell (Horry); Jonathan Powell (Pickens); and Valerie MacEachern (Berkeley). Front row, Fran Parker (Lancaster); Wendy Matherly (Fort Mill); Jenn Floyd (Horry); and Christina Watford-Suggs (Horry).