The SC Teaching Fellows Application window opens on Friday, October 1st.
Thank you for your assistance in promoting the South Carolina Teaching Fellows Program. The Program is entering its 23rd year of offering the state’s brightest and best students up to $24,000 over four years to become South Carolina educators.
Here’s what you need to know about the Teaching Fellows Program.
- Provides fellowships for up to 215 students each year (actual number determined by funding from the General Assembly)
- Includes enrichment programs, professional development, and leadership opportunities
- Supplies up to a $6,000 fellowship annually for four years (as long as the student is in the process of completing a degree leading to teacher certification and meets the criteria to continue in the Program)
- Requires participants to agree to teach in a South Carolina public school one year for each year funding is received and sign a Promissory Note along with a surety.
Teaching Fellows must attend one of the eleven Teaching Fellows Institutions. These include Anderson University, Charleston Southern University, Clemson University, Coastal Carolina University, College of Charleston, Francis Marion University, Lander University, USC Aiken, USC Columbia, USC Upstate, and Winthrop University.
To apply for Teaching Fellows, a student must be:
a United States citizen or will be an eligible non-citizen under State Residency statutes at the time of high school graduation (Please note - students categorized as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are not eligible for Teaching Fellows.)
- a legal resident of South Carolina (Please note - The Teaching Fellows Institution will verify residency after a student has been offered an award.)
- a high school senior or a junior who is graduating early
Here’s what’s new for 2021:
- High school transcripts with class rank included, ACT/SAT scores, and feedback from two references will be collected as a part of the application process. We are aware that many colleges and universities are not requiring ACT/SAT scores this year. Therefore, we will score applications using either class rank or a test score, whichever results in the greatest number of points. Students who have ACT/SAT scores should submit these scores.
Here’s what you need to know about the Teaching Fellows application:
- Kaleidoscope hosts the application.
- The Kaleidoscope system saves the student’s application as they move through the process. This allows the student to complete the application over an extended period of time, as necessary. Students must use the same email address to create the application and to log back into the application.
- Students may edit their application, even after submission, as long as the edits occur before 11:59 PM on December 1, 2021.
- Students will be asked to enter their school counselor’s name and email address during the application process. Once entered, the Kaleidoscope system will email the counselor and provide instructions on creating an account and uploading a transcript (including class rank) and ACT/SAT scores (if applicable). Transcripts will be automatically attached to the student’s application.
- Students will be asked to enter the names and email addresses of their references during the application process. Once entered, the Kaleidoscope system will email each reference and provide instructions on creating an account and completing the reference survey. Reference surveys will be automatically attached to the student’s application.
- Applicants will have access to their personalized Kaleidoscope dashboard, where they must monitor the submission of their transcripts and reference surveys.
- Transcripts and reference surveys must be submitted through Kaleidoscope. Copies of transcripts and/or reference surveys submitted via any other mode will not be accepted.
- If a student’s counselor does not have access to their ACT and/or SAT scores, and the student wishes to submit scores, they are responsible for having an official score report sent directly to CERRA. CERRA’s SAT code is 3680, and CERRA’s ACT code is 3873. The SAT and/or ACT report must arrive at CERRA by 11:59 PM on December 3, 2021.
- Students must complete the application online via the Kaleidoscope system.
- In order for applications to be considered complete, the student must answer all mandatory questions on the online application by December 1, 2021, and a high school transcript and required reference surveys must be submitted through the Kaleidoscope system before 11:59 PM on December 3, 2021.
The online application will open on October 1, 2021. The deadline for submission will be December 1, 2021, with notification to Fellowship recipients in early spring 2022.
Beginning on October 1st, the Teaching Fellows application will be available at https://www.cerra.org/teaching....
If you have any programmatic questions or if we may be of assistance, please contact Jenna Hallman at hallmanj@cerra.org or Katie Gibson at teachingfellows@cerra.org or call 800.476.2387.
Please note that technical questions about the application should be directed to the Kaleidoscope team at 800.278.8762.