Latest news with #SCDepartmentofEducation
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Lexington County teacher wins SC Teacher of the Year award
Corey Bedenbaugh, a Lexington County social studies teacher, speaks during the annual Teacher of the Year award ceremony on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (Screenshot of SC Department of Education livestream) COLUMBIA — A Lexington County social studies teacher is South Carolina's Teacher of the Year. Corey Bedenbaugh, who teaches eighth grade at Batesburg-Leesville Middle School, was selected from a group of five finalists to receive a grand prize of $25,000, state Superintendent Ellen Weaver announced Thursday during a ceremony at the Governor's Mansion. Teacher of the Year finalists Terri Ivester, Anderson School District 3 Jennifer Nelson, Hampton County School District Corey Bedenbaugh, Lexington County School District 3 Miranda Grice, Lexington County School District 4 Taylor Carvajal, SC School for the Deaf and the Blind Source: S.C. Department of Education In an acceptance speech, Bedenbaugh thanked his colleagues and the students he teaches, saying they impart as much wisdom to him as he does to them. 'To every student out there, you are the reason we do this,' Bedenbaugh said. 'Your dreams, your resilience and your light fuel our purpose.' Bedenbaugh initially wanted to become a lawyer, but the prelaw classes he took during his first year at Newberry College didn't inspire him, he said. At the urging of his college advisor, Bedenbaugh enrolled in education classes with the aim of becoming a history teacher. Those classes 'allowed me to see the true impact (my teachers) had left in me, an impact that I had not really seen prior to thinking about it,' Bedenbaugh said. Along with teaching, Bedenbaugh founded 'Bow Ties with Bedenbaugh,' a mentorship program meant to teach young men life skills. He also coaches a girls' basketball team and sponsors the school's student council and Fellowship of Christian Athletes, according to the state Department of Education. 'Corey Bedenbaugh is an outstanding educator who goes above and beyond to inspire his students every day,' his district superintendent, Ashley Atkinson, said in a statement. Each school district in the state selects its own teacher of the year, which the Department of Education narrows down to five finalists. Each receives $10,000. On top of an additional $15,000 from the state, Bedenbaugh received $2,000 from the Bojangles Foundation Fund, a BMW to drive for the coming year and the ability to take classes tuition-free toward a graduate degree from the University of South Carolina. 'This award is an honor and acknowledgement, but the real reward is the privilege of teaching,' said Bedenbaugh, who already holds a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Phoenix. The award also comes with extra responsibility. Bedenbaugh will spend the next year mentoring other teachers, working with high-achieving high school students who want to join the profession and leading an annual conference for educators. While the award goes to one teacher, it's meant to highlight the work of educators as a whole in helping the next generation of students grow, Weaver said. 'We're honoring all of those whose lasting influence stays long after classroom lights go out, those who are writing South Carolina's next chapter, one student, one lesson plan, one incredible breakthrough at a time,' Weaver said. Legislators in recent years have taken steps toward hiking teachers' pay and improving their working conditions. Since 2017, the state-funded minimum salary for first-year teachers has risen from $30,100 to $47,000, with legislators set to provide an additional $1,500 boost for the coming school year. That will bring the minimum pay for a teacher with 12 years of experience and a master's degree — what's loosely considered an average — to $58,750. Gov. Henry McMaster noted that more funding has also provided more mental health professionals and law enforcement officers in schools. All of that has been to help the state's teachers, said the governor, who fondly recalled the teachers who have shaped his own life. 'Ladies and gentlemen, if someone doesn't teach it to you, you're not going to know it,' McMaster said. Bedenbaugh called on everyone in the audience to continue supporting educators. 'Together, let's continue to champion the power of education, because when we invest in our children, we invest in the future of our great state,' Bedenbaugh said.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
More K-12 teachers in SC can earn bonuses in $5M pilot program
Teachers in Williamsburg County School District receive Excellence in Teaching Awards from the state Department of Education in May 2024. (Provided/SC Department of Education) COLUMBIA — Teachers in dozens of public schools across South Carolina are newly eligible for bonuses if their students show enough academic progress. The state Department of Education recently announced choosing 37 schools from among 118 that applied to participate in its pilot program. They will cumulatively receive $5 million. The size of teachers' potential bonus is unclear. District officials will distribute their allotment to teachers based on their students' test scores. The department hopes the program becomes a statewide model for rewarding excellent teachers and keeping them in the classroom. 'This initiative is about more than just pay — it's about rewarding the educators who are moving the needle on student growth in the foundational skills of reading and math,' state Superintendent Ellen Weaver said in a news release. 'When we recognize and support the very best teaching, we set a new horizon for what's possible for students in every corner of our state.' The latest experiment may accomplish through bonuses what legislators and state superintendents of both parties have attempted unsuccessfully for two decades: paying teachers statewide based on their effectiveness in the classroom. Teachers in South Carolina are paid by their academic degree and years of experience. Teacher advocacy groups have long argued it's impossible to fairly construct a pay-for-performance model recognizing that every class is different, and some students enter their classrooms years behind. Weaver first called for a statewide, voluntary incentive program in 2023. The Legislature provided $5 million for a pilot this school year. The state budget plan approved by the House earlier this month would fund another $5 million for the coming school year. The bonuses would be in addition to the House's $1,500 boost in state-paid minimums for teachers. A final spending plan is still months away. Weaver sees the number of applications as showing widespread support. In selecting which schools to include in the program, the agency gave priority to high-poverty schools with the highest teacher turnover, according to the education department. Participating schools could choose different ways for determining teachers' bouses. All involve measuring how much progress their students make in meeting grade-level expectations for math and reading. Roughly half of the 37 schools opted to use results on state-standardized math and reading tests taken by third- through eighth-grade students in the spring. Other schools created their own model for determining academic growth, which include scores on end-of-course tests taken by high schoolers. Eleven schools adopted the Excellence in Teaching Awards model, which has been funded in high-poverty schools with private donations since 2021. It involves comparing students' scores on district-level tests they take at the beginning and end of the school year. SC House budget plan raises teacher pay by $1,500 instead of $3,000 The awards were inspired by the four Meeting Street Schools, an innovative approach to neighborhood schools launched in Charleston by billionaire philanthropist Ben Navarro to prove all students can succeed. The donor-funded awards expanded to high-poverty public schools throughout Charleston County. Last school year, the state Department of Education expanded it with federal aid to schools in Allendale and Williamsburg counties, which remain under the agency's control. Those schools are becoming part of the state pilot. The money helps both teachers and students, said Josh Bell, president of Beemok Education, which manages the various education initiatives of Ben and Kelly Navarro. In the 28 schools that have given teachers bonuses using private funding since 2021, student test scores have improved and teachers have said they are more likely to stay in the classroom, he said. 'We deeply believe that teachers who work really hard and get these outcomes ought to be compensated for them,' Bell said. Last school year, rewarded teachers in Charleston County received, on average, a $5,000 bonus, while the largest single bonus was $31,000, according to Beemok Education. Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association, reiterated teachers' concerns that paying teachers for students' performance puts too much focus on a few tests rather than students' overall improvement. 'Do I think there needs to be a way of recognizing high-performing teachers? Absolutely,' East said. 'Do I think it should be based on test scores? Absolutely not.' An alternative to the test-based bonuses could be to offer incentives for teachers in hard-to-hire positions, said Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association. Hawaii did something similar by offering $10,000 bonuses to special education teachers beginning in 2019, which helped the state put teachers in commonly hard-to-fill roles, he said. If education officials want to continue doing performance-based bonuses, Kelly suggested the state instead encourage districts to look at teachers' end-of-year evaluation, which grades their teaching abilities as a whole instead of simply how well their students perform on tests. Looking solely at whether a student is meeting or exceeding grade level can discount the work teachers do to help students who enter their classes while falling behind catch up, even if the students still don't get to where they should be for their grade level, Kelly said. 'If you're going to do (a bonus) on the basis of student performance, it cannot be done on test scores alone,' Kelly said.
