New Carolina: South Carolina's Council on Competitiveness

Champions

• Don Herriott, Director of Innovista Partnerships, University of South Carolina USC Innovista
• Jim Reynolds, CEO, Total Comfort Solutions

Mission

To provide guidance and leadership in creating an educated and skilled workforce that can enable South Carolina to compete in the global knowledge economy. The New Carolina Education and Workforce Development Task Force regularly convenes major stakeholders in education and workforce in both public and private sectors in South Carolina. With over 30 members, this group is the only statewide forum that looks at comprehensive solutions to South Carolina's education and workforce challenges.

Goals

1. Increase the pipeline of high school graduates prepared for higher education and careers.

• Personal Pathways to Success (or Education and Economic Development Act - EEDA): Many of the New Carolina task force members were appointed to, and still sit on, the Governor's Coordinating Council for EEDA. The group helped define the brand roll out, and widely promotes Personal Pathways to Success within the business community.

• Reading proficiency: Increasing Reading Proficiency by Grade 4 is an imperative.  Currently 60% of fourth graders in South Carolina are reading at basic or below basic levels.  The Education and Workforce Task Force is exploring strategies to address this on a statewide level.

• Family and community engagement: Family and Community Engagement in a child's education is critical to students’ success.  The Task Force has partnered with the South Carolina Department of Education to address this issue through local leadership.

• Poverty's impact on education success: The Task Force supports the South Carolina Commission for Minority Affairs' study on the impact of poverty, which addresses poverty's effects on learning, and how South Carolina can better coordinate, identify funds and determine who is benefiting from services.

• Early childhood education: The Task Force is studying ways to improve delivery of early childhood education in South Carolina, including a cost-benefit analysis conducted by the Commission for Minority Affairs, to invest in early childhood education. For every $1 invested in the preschool education, there is a $1.90 return. 

2. Connect the adult workforce to education, training and careers in the knowledge economy

• Apprenticeships: Registered Apprenticeship programs can dramatically impact productivity and quality.  The Apprenticeship Carolina program at the South Carolina Technical College System was conceived and encouraged by New Carolina's Education and Workforce Task Force.  In two years, the number of apprenticeships in SC has risen from 800 to over 2,600, and one new registered apprenticeship program is being added each week.

• WorkKeys: The Task Force supported the State Workforce Investment Board (WIB) development of its strategic plan to create an urgency for workforce training through the local WIBs.  South Carolina now has over 120,000 people who have earned a WorkKeys Career Readiness Certificate, more than any other state in the U.S.  There has been over a 150% increase in participants receiving training.

• GED Attainment: The Connect Adults Committee of the New Carolina Education and Workforce Task Force is working with the South Carolina Department of Education Adult Education Department, the South Carolina Technical College System and the Department of Employment and Workforce to increase the number of GED’s awarded per year, and enroll adults into 3-6 month Quick Jobs Carolina programs that prepare adults for jobs.

• New Front Door to Education for Adults: The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education is developing a New Front Door to higher education to make it easier for adults to transition into college education to prepare for higher skilled, higher wage jobs.

3. Support the commercialization of research to create high wage knowledge jobs in SC

• Support the Endowed Chairs program and collaboration among Clemson, University of South Carolina, Medical University of South Carolina and SC State
• Develop training and support for entrepreneurs
• Increase access to start-up capital

Reference Library

• Apprenticeship Programs Expand with Help of Community Colleges
• Expanding Apprenticeships: A way to Enhance Skills and Careers
• A Historical Analysis of Funding for South Carolina's Public Schools
  In 2005, New Carolina's Education and Workforce Development Task Force produced a comprehensive report on education funding in South Carolina, with the help of task force member and Education Oversight Committee Executive Director Jo Anne Anderson. Download the report here.
• Calling all Educational Entrepreneurs: An idea for a new public school model serving poor children by John Warner
• Developing South Carolina's Workforce In early 2007, New Carolina and the SC Technical College System co-hosted panel discussions and community forums across the state on the future of South Carolina’s workforce. The events began as part of a research project initiated by the Southern Growth Policies Board. The report was the outcome of the events. 
• Increasing Parent Involvement in Education: A resource guide
• South Carolina Chamber of Commerce 2020 Education Goals
• South Carolina's Education Successes
• New Carolina Education and Workforce Task Force Champion Don Herriott on SC Business Review

South Carolina Education Successes

Good things are happening in education in South Carolina. The high school graduation rate is steadily improving. Our Virtual Schools program is #2 in the United States. We have more Board Certified Teachers than any other state inthe nation. Our NAEP scores for math and science for 8th graders is at the national average.

Read more from the SC Chamber of Commerce brochure on South Carolina's Education Successes.