(A) Teacher specialists on site may be assigned to an elementary, middle, or high school designated as below average or school/district at-risk. Teacher specialists may be placed across grade levels and across subject areas when placement meets program criteria based on external review team recommendations, need, number of teachers receiving support, certification, and experience of the specialist. The Department of Education, in consultation with the Division of Accountability, shall develop a program for the identification, selection, and training of teachers with a history of exemplary student academic achievement to serve as teacher specialists on site. Retired educators may be considered for specialists.

(B) In order to sustain improvement and help implement the review team's recommendations, the specialists will teach and work with the school faculty on a regular basis throughout the school year for up to three years, or as recommended by the review team and approved by the state board. Teacher specialists are limited to three years of service at one school unless the specialist submits application for an extension, the application is accepted by the State Department of Education, and placement is made. Upon acceptance and placement, the specialist can receive the salary and supplement for two additional years but is no longer attached to the home district or guaranteed placement in the home district upon leaving the teacher specialist program. Teacher specialists must teach a minimum of three hours per day on average in team teaching or teaching classes. Teacher specialists shall not be assigned administrative duties or other responsibilities outside the scope of this section. The specialists will assist the school in gaining knowledge of best practices and well-validated alternatives, demonstrate effective teaching, act as coach for improving classroom practices, give support and training to identify needed changes in classroom instructional strategies based upon analyses of assessment data, and support teachers in acquiring new skills. School districts are asked to cooperate in releasing employees for full-time or part-time employment as a teacher specialist.

(C) To encourage and recruit teachers for assignment to below average and school/district at-risk schools, those assigned to such schools will receive their salary and a supplement equal to fifty percent of the current southeastern average teacher salary as projected by the Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office. The salary and supplement is to be paid by the State for three years. Teacher specialists may be employed, pursuant to subsection (B), as a component of the technical assistance strategy.

(D) In order to attract a pool of qualified applicants to work in low-performing schools, the Education Oversight Committee, in consultation with the South Carolina Department of Education, shall develop criteria for the identification, selection, and training of principals with a history of exemplary student academic achievement. Retired educators may be considered for a principal specialist position. A principal specialist may be hired for a school designated as school/district at-risk, if the district board of trustees chooses to replace the principal of that school. The principal specialist will assist the school in gaining knowledge of best practices and well-validated alternatives in carrying out the recommendations of the review team. The specialist will demonstrate effective leadership for improving classroom practices, assist in the analyses of assessment data, work with individual members of the faculty emphasizing needed changes in classroom instructional strategies based upon analyses of assessment data, and support teachers in acquiring new skills designed to increase academic performance. School districts are asked to cooperate in releasing employees for full-time or part-time employment as a principal specialist.

(E) In order to attract a pool of qualified principals to work in low-performing schools, the principal specialists hired in such schools will receive their salary and a supplement equal to 1.25 times the supplement amount calculated for teachers. Principal specialists may be employed as a component of the technical assistance strategy for two years. A principal specialist may be continued for a third year if requested by the local school board, recommended by the external review team, and approved by the State Board of Education. If employed for the third year, technical assistance funds may only be used for payment of the principal specialist salary supplement.

(F) The supplements are to be considered part of the regular salary base for which retirement contributions are deductible by the South Carolina Retirement System pursuant to Section 9-1-1020. Principal and teacher specialists on site who are assigned to below average and school/district at-risk schools shall be allowed to return to employment with their home district at the end of the contract period with the same teaching or administrative contract status as when they left but without assurance as to the school or supplemental position to which they may be assigned.

(G) The Department of Education shall work with school districts and schools to broker the services of technical assistance personnel delineated in Section 59-18-1590 as needed, and as stipulated in the school renewal plan.

(H) Within the parameters herein, the school district will have final determination on individuals who are assigned as teacher specialists and principal specialists.

HISTORY: 1998 Act No. 400, Section 2; 1999 Act No. 100, Part II, Section 76; 2008 Act No. 282, Section 1, eff June 5, 2008.

Effect of Amendment

The 2008 amendment rewrote this section.