About Us

The Teacher Cadet Program is operated by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement. CERRA's mission is to provide leadership in identifying, attracting, placing, and retaining well-qualified individuals for the teaching profession in our state. In doing so, CERRA will respond to changing needs for teachers from underrepresented populations, in critical subject fields, and in under-served geographical areas in South Carolina. The Center will work cooperatively with other organizations to promote the education profession.

CERRA is the oldest and most established teacher recruitment program in the country. The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement, established by the Commission on Higher Education in December 1985 and funded by the South Carolina General Assembly, entered its 25th year of operation in 2010-2011. Following the passage of the state's landmark Education Improvement Act, CERRA was created out of a concern for the condition of South Carolina's teacher supply pool and a need for a centralized teacher recruitment effort.

CERRA's agenda is a comprehensive one in which the Center pursues a variety of programs for increasing the number of students in the education pipeline and recruiting and retaining qualified, caring, and competent teachers. The Center's primary target groups are middle and high school students, college students, and adults interested in changing careers.

CERRA also targets groups of accomplished teachers through programs including mentoring, teacher leadership, and National Board Certification. The network of educators in our programs overlaps in powerful ways to increase the level of collaboration for recruitment, retention, and advancement of South Carolina educators.

CERRA is staffed by an executive director, three program directors, a business manager, a coordinator of communications and technology, a coordinator of research and program development,  the S.C. Teacher of the Year, a teacher database manager, and three administrative assistants. CERRA has developed into a national model for teacher recruitment and its Teacher Cadet Program has been adopted by 34 states (and counting) in the United States. In the summer of 2010, the Center began started receiving inquiries from as far away as Bangladesh.

Have you ever wondered how Teacher Cadets started? Check out this interview with Bonner Guidera, creator of The Teacher Cadet Program.