This series of four 3-credit graduate courses will, together, meet all requirements for South Carolina’s Add-On Certification for Teachers of Children of Poverty. These courses may transfer to other institutions; however, that decision is ALWAYS made by the receiving institution. Contact your college or university to verify transfer credit.
Graduate (EDUC) Courses
EDUC 555 – Teaching Children of Poverty
(3) (Prerequisites: Education 311 or permission of the school) This course and its required clinical experiences are designed to provide teacher candidates with in-depth study of issues related to teaching children of poverty. It includes collaborative research activities and the use of existing research evidence in the areas of the culture of poverty; the classroom community; family and community partnerships; curriculum design, instructional strategies and assessment; relationship-driven classroom management; and teachers as learners, leaders and advocates to improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment in schools serving large numbers of children of poverty. This course is required for all Center of Excellence Scholars. Designation of credit as undergraduate or graduate must be made at registration. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors may not take 500-level courses.
EDUC 599 – Teaching and Assessing Children of Poverty
(3) (Prerequisite: Education 555 or permission of the Graduate School of Education) This course and its required clinical experiences are designed to provide graduate students with focused study of purposeful teaching and assessment, specifically as they relate to children of poverty. It includes use of the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to facilitate an understanding of the cognitive processes and types of knowledge uniquely represented and aligned with the six mandated Teaching Children of Poverty Standards and eight strategies. Students will engage in an in-depth study of the Action Research process, followed by use of the model to methodically develop, implement, and assess instructional strategies. Authentic formative and summative assessment processes will be explored, and data collected from these measures will be used to study the effectiveness of in-class instruction and assessment in schools serving children of poverty.
EDUC 635 – Family-School-Community Partnerships in High Poverty Schools
(3) (Prerequisite: Education 555 or permission of the school) F, S, SU. This course and its required field experiences are designed to provide graduate students with a focused study of the nature and results of family, school, and community partnerships in high poverty schools. High impact approaches for organizing and sustaining school-based programs of family and community engagement will be explored. Students will develop and implement goal oriented family, school, and community partnership programs in the classroom setting.
EDUC 636 – Language, Literacy, and Poverty
(3) (Prerequisite: Education 555 or permission of the school) F, S, SU. This course and its required field-based action research experiences are designed to provide graduate students with a focused study and application of theories and models of the reading process as they apply to children of poverty. Graduate students explore the impact of life with limited resources on brain development, specifically as it relates to language and literacy. Developmental reading and writing and reading and writing across the curriculum are practiced in high poverty settings. Research-based and authentic language and literacy assessment practices that provide a basis for instructional decisions for high poverty students are implemented in the field setting.