Teach South Carolina

Thank you for your interest in teaching in South Carolina.   Applying for any posted teaching position listed at TEACHSC.org, is now easier than ever and most districts prefer applicants complete the South Carolina Educator Employment and Certification Application at TEACHSC.org.   After completing the application, please mail copies of your teaching certificate, test score report, transcripts of all college courses taken, resume and social security card to the address below.  CERRA will scan the documents to your application making them available the selected districts.  Please be sure the district of interest has been selected to view your application. If you have previously completed an online application, please contact the district showing the listed position and let them know that you have an application online and available to them.

Please use the password retrieval tool available on the application login page to reset your password. Your password will be sent to the email address you used to create your application. If you no longer have access to that email address, please contact the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement (CERRA) at 803-323-4032 for assistance.

Employment information entered into this system will only be released to those school districts authorized by you. Once you give viewing rights to selected districts, it is up to individual districts to decide if they would like to view your application. Submitting an application does not guarantee an application will be reviewed by a particular district; it simply means the district has the right to review the application if it chooses to do so.

We strongly recommend that you follow-up directly with the district(s) in which you're interested in gaining employment. Contact information for each district can be found in the School Districts section of this website.

No. Fill out the application at your own pace. The system will save the portions you submit and allow you to re-enter the application at later times to complete. Your application will remain active one (1) year from the the date you last accessed your application.

It is important to save each completed section of your application before closing a session. To save a section, click the "Save Details" button at the bottom of the page.

For security reasons, the application will time out after 40 minutes of inactivity. So, please make sure to save each section before moving onto the next section.

To re-enable your application, follow these steps:

1) Click "Apply Now" in the menu on this website
2) Click the “APPLICANT SECTION” button
3) Type in your SS# (with dashes) and Password = dani
4) Click the "Login" button to open your application
5) Click on the "Activate Application" button found on the left side of the page.

Yes. All districts in the state do use this online application for employment. Some districts may require you to complete a district-specific application on their website. Contact the district directly or inquire on their website about specific application procedures.

Employment information entered into this system will only be released to those school districts authorized by you. Once you give viewing rights to selected districts, it is up to individual districts to decide if they would like to view your application. Submitting an application does not guarantee an application will be reviewed by a particular district; it simply means the district has the right to review the application if it chooses to do so.

You will have an option on your application to specify up to five(5) school districts that you want to have access to your application. You will also be able to select "All of SC" which means every school district in the state would have access to your application. If you're interested in a particular geographic region of South Carolina, you have the option to allow all school districts the designated region(s) to access your application. If you want more than five districts to have access to your application, choose "All of SC" or choose the region of the state in which your additional districts are located.

We encourage you to learn more about each district and geographic region before beginning your employment application.

Log onto your application and make sure you selected the districts in question.

Please follow these steps to request a reference:
1) Click "Apply Now" in the menu on this website
2) Click the “APPLICANT SECTION” button
3) Type in your SS# and Password and click "Login"
4) Click the “REQUEST REFERENCE” button to your left
5) Type in the person’s email address and position you are seeking
6) Hit Submit

After you click “Request Reference” the system will automatically email a reference request to the email address you entered with instructions to the person on how to access the Online Reference Section. It will also send the appropriate four, five, or six digit ID number and password to the person needed to submit a reference on your behalf. The email will come from helpscteach@winthrop.edu and not for your email address or CERRA.  The system will not show any references until the person you requested the reference from physically submits the information on your behalf.

You cannot edit or add names and addressed the list of references but please follow these steps to delete old references and request new ones:

1) Click "Apply Now" in the menu on this website
2) Click the “APPLICANT SECTION” button
3) Type in your SS# and Password
4) Click the “Login” button
5) Click the “View/Print” button
6) Scroll down to the references and click delete. (A reference cannot be retrieved after it has been deleted)
7) Go back and click on “REQUEST REFERENCE”
8) Type in the person’s email address, position you are seeking and hit submit (This steps is where you're requesting a new reference.)

No contact information with be listed until the person physically submits a reference on your behalf.  You will receive an automated email stating the person has submitted the reference on your behalf after they have completed the form.

Please follow these steps to delete old references and request new ones:

1) Click "Apply Now" in the menu on this website
2) Click the “APPLICANT SECTION” button
3) Type in your SS# and Password
4) Click the “Login” button
5) Click the “View/Print” button
6) Scroll down to the references and click delete (A reference cannot be retrieved after it has been deleted)
7) Go back and click on “REQUEST REFERENCE”
8) Type in the person’s email address, position you are seeking and hit submit

(This steps is where you're requesting a new reference.)

When requesting a reference, the system will automatically email a reference request to the email address provided by you with instructions on how to complete and submit the reference online.  It will also send the appropriate four, five, or six digit ID number and password needed to provide a reference.  Your application will not show names of references until the people you requested them from physically complete and submit the reference online.

If you waive your right to view your references you will not be able to see the reference survey responses submitted on your behalf. Whereas other information on your application can be changed in the future, the response to this question can not ever be reversed.

If you retain your right to view your references, you will be able to see what references had to say about you.

Once you have "Waived your Rights to View References" it cannot be reversed. Please select the option to "waive your right" or "retain your right" carefully.

We are sorry but we cannot allow you to reverse your decision to waive your rights to view the references.  The people submitting the references on your behalf received the following statement, "The applicant has chosen not to review your reference before it is added to the application packet. You may either provide a reference or decline to give a reference."  Therefore, to change your choice, would be a breach on the part of CERRA.

Some districts will only accept confidential references because they feel the person will give a more honest referral if it is confidential.  To make all references confidential, you must request another reference and waive your rights to view but remember when you waive your rights on one, you waive your rights on all including the references currently submitted online.  Again, when you waive your rights on one reference request, you waive the rights on current and future references.

The letters of reference will be scanned to your application.  As you are aware, there are several buttons at the bottom of the application but no “Reference Button.  Applicants do not have access to scanned references but the districts will be able to access and view your scanned references. Your application will only show the list of electronic references and not the names of scanned references.

The reference request may be going into the recipient’s junk mail because of filtering (SPAM), especially at state supported and government agencies, and it is a process CERRA cannot control.  To find out if this is a possibility, have the person you are requesting a reference from or their tech support person to check the junk mail for an email from helpscteach@winthrop.edu.  If the request is being filtered and cannot be retrieved, you should send another request to a different email address or download a hard copy of the reference form.  Have the person complete the form and mail to CERRA to be scanned to your application.

To complete your SC Online Teacher Application, please mail, fax or email copies of:

• Teaching Credential (Certificate/License)
• NTE/PRAXIS II Score Report
• Social Security Card
• Transcripts of all College Courses

If you elected to not upload the documents to your application, please mail the materials to:

Phyllis Archie, Teacher Database Manager
CERRA-South Carolina
Stewart House at Winthrop University
Rock Hill, South Carolina 29733

Or fax to:
803-323-4044

To verify the documents in question, please follow the instructions below. If there is a “0” next to the button, you should fax, email or postal mail the document(s) to this office to be scanned to your application.  To view References (If you retained your rights to view) and Scanned Images, follow the steps below:

1) Click "Apply Now" in the menu on this website
2) Click the “APPLICANT SECTION” button
3) Type in your SS# and Password
4) Click the “Login” button
5) Click the “View/Print” button
6) Scroll down to the scanned images

For information on testing and the process of becoming certified in South Carolina, please contact the Office of Educator Certification by emailing certification@scteachers.org or calling 877-885-5280 (Toll-free in South Carolina) or 803-734-8466 (Columbia area or out-of-state). Calls are received from 1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.

All applications and documents are used for purpose of hiring of teachers and administrators in the state of South Carolina and will not be forwarded to other states or organizations.