The South Carolina legislature recently passed the Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) requiring all middle and high schools to: develop career oriented majors or clusters; and to assist all students in developing an individual graduation plan focusing on one or more of these career oriented majors. While the focus of this legislation is on the K-12 sector, professional education programs at colleges and universities are expected to ensure that their graduates possess the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to implement the following components of EEDA:
- Career guidance;
- Use of the cluster of study curriculum frameworks;
- Use of individual graduation plans;
- Instruction of students with diverse learning styles;
- Elements of the Career Guidance Model;
- Contextual teaching;
- Cooperative learning; and
- Character education
A committee of The Citadels' professional education faculty and representatives from area schools began earlier this year working toward integrating the above mandates into the curriculum of our professional education programs. The committee has developed a comprehensive plan, including assessment strategies, for this integration and will monitor the implementation of it beginning in the fall.
