On Friday, August 27, Jeremiah Young of Beaufort High School in Beaufort, South Carolina, was presented with the inaugural National ABCTE Teacher of the Year award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. with keynote remarks by Dr. Carl Harris, Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

ABCTE Acting CEO & CFO Giovanni Cozzarelli greets National ABCTE Teacher of the Year Jeremiah Young prior to today's award ceremony.


National ABCTE Teacher of the Year Award Ceremony: (from left to right) Giovanni Cozzarelli, ABCTE Acting CEO & CFO; Jessica Young; Jeremiah Young, National ABCTE Teacher of the Year; Dr. Carl Harris, Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; Anthony Colón, Past Chairman, ABCTE Board of Directors

More photos coming...

The following letter was sent to Governor Edward Rendell of Pennsylvania today from Giovanni Cozzarelli, ABCTE's CFO & Acting CEO. The letter is in response statements made by the Governor during yesterday's Race to the Top news conference, about Pennsylvania lacking an alternative teaching certification procedure and that a career changer would be required to attend a teacher post graduate program for two years in order to teach in Pennsylvania public schools.

August 25, 2010

Governor Rendell:

Our non-profit organization, the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE), offers an alternative teaching certification program that is accepted in ten states, including Pennsylvania. In January of this year, you were kind enough to issue a proclamation to ABCTE for Become a Teacher Day in Pennsylvania, encouraging residents to contact us if they wish to pursue a career in the classroom—we were, and continue to be, extremely grateful for this recognition.

I must admit, however, that I was a bit surprised by your comments from yesterday’s Race to the Top news conference, where you cited the state’s lack of an alternative teaching certification procedure for mid-career professionals as one of the reasons the state did not receive Race to the Top funds. You stated, "I would like to teach in the Philadelphia Public Schools, but I wouldn’t be allowed to do so without going to a teachers post graduate program for two years."

ABCTE is an accepted alternative certification program in Pennsylvania and it can be completed in less than two years. Our organization is currently permitted to certify individuals in the subjects of Math, English Language Arts and Elementary Education. We have a good relationship with the State Department of Education and have been working with them in an attempt to have our Biology, Chemistry, General Science and Physics certifications accepted in Pennsylvania as well. To-date, nearly 200 residents of your state have received their ABCTE certification and we look forward to helping many more of them pursue their dream of teaching.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss our program with you further and walk you through how you could, in fact, teach in the Philadelphia Public Schools—or elsewhere in your state—in far less than two years from now. Thank you again for the support you have given us and I hope we can schedule a time to meet in the near future.

Respectfully,

Giovanni Cozzarelli
CFO & Acting CEO
American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE)

Tonight we kick off several weeks of events in South Carolina for our Teach & Inspire Scholarship Program. Funded by a U.S. Department of Education Transition to Teaching grant, the program provides accepted participants with a full scholarship and materials needed to become certified teachers through the ABCTE program. Once ABCTE teaching certification is obtained, candidates are eligible for an additional $1,000 stipend for completing classroom observations. Participants must make a three-year commitment to teach their subject in a high-need school in South Carolina.

All the event details are below and you can register for any of these on the Teach & Inspire page of our website under "Step 1: Attend an Information Session".

South Carolina Teach & Inspire Information Sessions:

Tuesday, August 10 – Sumter, SC
Sumter Regional Library
111 North Harvin Street
Sumter, SC
Sessions begin at 5pm, 6pm and 7pm

Wednesday, August 11 -- Columbia, SC
North Main Branch Library
5306 North Main Street
Columbia, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Thursday, August 12 – Aiken, SC
Aiken County Public Library
314 Chesterfield Street Southwest
Aiken, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Tuesday, August 17 – Dillon, SC
Main Branch Library – Dillon
600 East Main Street
Dillon, SC
Sessions begin at 5 pm, 6 pm, and 7 pm

Wednesday, August 18 – Florence, SC
Florence-Darlington Technical Center -- Main Campus
2715 West Lucas Street
Building 100 – Room 109
Florence, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Thursday, August 19 – Conway, SC
Mary Thompson Center
1009 – 17th Avenue
Conway, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 5.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Tuesday, August 24 – Newberry, SC
Holiday Inn Express
121 Truman Avenue
Newberry, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Wednesday, August 25 – Chester (Chester County), SC
Wylie Park Activity Center
161 West End Street
Chester, SC
Sessions begin at 5 pm, 6 pm, and 7 pm

Thursday, August 26 – Spartanburg, SC
Westside Library
525 Oak Grove Road
Spartanburg, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Tuesday, August 31 – Summerville (Dorchester County), SC
Hampton Inn
1015 Jockey Ct
Summerville, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Wednesday, September 1 – Bamberg, SC
Bamberg County City Hall
2340 Main Highway
Bamberg, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm

Thursday, September 2 – Allendale, SC
James Wright Building
398 Barnwell Highway
Allendale, SC
Sessions begin at 5.30 pm, 6.30 pm, and 7.30 pm