Our State	Change from Last Year
Total Number of Teachers	48663	Up from 47295
Percent of K-3 teachers who are certified in Read to Succeed reading certification	85.8	Up from 70.8
Percent of teachers with advanced degrees	64.1	Up from 63.6
Teacher attendance rate	89.9	Down from 93.8
Average teacher salary	$63,394	Up from $61,437
Percent of teachers on continuing contract	97.5	No change
Percent of teachers returning from previous year - current year	92.5	Up from 92.2
Percent of teachers returning from previous year - three year average	92.0	Up from 91.0
Percent of teacher vacancies for more than 9 weeks	2.5	Down from 3.1
Prime instructional time	80.5	Down from 84.0
Student-teacher ratio in core subjects	22.7 to 1	Down from 23.0 to 1
Percent of inexperienced principals in low poverty schools	21	N/A
Number of inexperienced principals in low poverty schools	69	N/A
Percent of inexperienced principals in high poverty schools	27	N/A
Number of inexperienced principals in high poverty schools	89	N/A
Percent of inexperienced other school leaders in low poverty schools	24	N/A
Number of inexperienced other school leaders in low poverty schools	171	N/A
Percent of inexperienced other school leaders in high poverty schools	32	N/A
Number of inexperienced other school leaders in high poverty schools	89	N/A
Percent of inexperienced principals	23.7	Down from 24.8
Number of inexperienced principals	315.0	Up from 24.8
Percent of inexperienced other school leaders	26.6	Down from 30.2
Number of inexperienced other school leaders	624.0	Down from 708
Percent of inexperienced teachers teaching in low poverty schools	13.5	Down from 14.4
Number of inexperienced teachers teaching in low poverty schools	2467	Down from 3030
Percent of out-of-field teachers teaching in low poverty schools	6.8	Down from 8.1
Number of out-of-field teachers teaching in low poverty schools	1247	Down from 1709
Percent of inexperienced teachers teaching in high poverty schools	24.0	Down from 25
Number of inexperienced teachers teaching in high poverty schools	2543	Down from 2872
Percent of out-of-field teachers teaching in high poverty schools	16.0	Down from 18.5
Number of out-of-field teachers teaching in high poverty schools	1702	Down from 2123
Percent of inexperienced teachers	17.8	Down from 19
Number of inexperienced teachers	10608	Down from 11140
Percent of out-of-field teachers	10.3	Down from 12.2
Number of out-of-field teachers	6122	Down from 7138

Inexperienced Teacher- a teacher with less than 4 years of experience.
Inexperienced School Leader- a School Administrator that has not completed their formal evaluation process (Tier 1)
Out of Field Teacher- a teacher teaching a course or courses outside their field of certification when a certification is required for that course.

ESSA regulations require states to post on their report cards information about teachers with emergency or provisional credentials. South Carolina does not award emergency or provisional credentials, thus that metric is not listed.

Note: The method for calculating prime instructional time was adjusted for 2025 school report cards. Comparing 2025 prime instructional time to prior years is not appropriate.