What this document is
SC-CREATE is a South Carolina scholarship program, launched in 2003, that pays tuition and textbook costs for public school employees pursuing initial, alternative or add-on licensure in special education. It runs through a partnership between the state's Office of Special Education Services and a growing consortium of South Carolina colleges and universities, which numbered thirteen by the 2018-19 academic year, up from three when the program began.
Only full-time school district employees are eligible, and the program is structured as a grow-your-own model: it aims to build a pipeline of qualified special education staff from within the districts that need them rather than relying solely on outside hiring. As of the program's most recent published figures, more than 1,200 participants had completed licensure or certification through SC-CREATE, spanning the large majority of the state's local education agencies.
The program has drawn national attention as a model. The National Association of State Directors of Special Education's Personnel Improvement Center cited it as an example of a successful grow-your-own program, and the American Council on Rural Special Education gave it an exemplary-program award in 2015.
Where to find it
Available from South Carolina Department of Education.