Preface to the Eighth Edition
The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement (CERRA), formerly known as the South
Carolina Center for Teacher Recruitment (SCCTR), has a mandate from the General Assembly to increase the
minority teacher supply in South Carolina. CERRA has reached thousands of academically talented minority high
school juniors and seniors through its Teacher Cadet Program, which is now offered in more than 170 high
schools statewide. But the sad truth is that many minority teenagers are turned off to teaching by the time they
reach their senior year in high school. And many other talented minority youths never make it to the senior year
prepared to enter college and pursue a professional lifestyle.
CERRA’s ProTeam middle school program is an attempt to address this problem by reaching students at an earlier
age, before they make choices about their high school coursework – and perhaps before they make an irrevocable
decision to avoid the teaching profession. We recognize that many teachers and parents/guardians actively
discourage minority youngsters from considering teaching, despite the rapidly shrinking population of minority
educators in teaching.
The CERRA staff is committed to the parental involvement component of the ProTeam Program. Our research
indicates that parents/guardians have a tremendous influence on their own children. To more fully involve
parents/guardians as part of the "Team,” the staff wrote Family Involvement Activities that provide more
opportunities for students to interact with their parents/guardians and other family members.
DreamQuest: The ProTeam Experience recognizes the need for all young people to develop a stronger sense of
self as well as insights into working cooperatively with others. It provides opportunities for students to experience
the act of teaching and to explore what it means to be a teacher. The emphasis is always on developing a
professional attitude about life and a dream or vision for the future – a vision that includes college and possibly a
career in teaching. The ProTeam experience is by no means limited to minority students; it is a positive
experience for any interested adolescent.
The revisions of this Eighth Edition of the curriculum are the end product of many months of work, led by the
revision team members noted below. As always, the value of our work lies in those in our network who have the
talents and expertise to help us improve.
Many thanks are extended to members of the Center staff who continue to provide support to the ProTeam
Program. We realize that all the programs sponsored by the Center are necessary to recruit and retain the best and
brightest teachers for the classrooms of South Carolina.
The following are major changes in the Eighth Edition of DreamQuest:
v the publication of the text in a professional format that is easier to read and color-coded by thematic units
v the re-arrangement of instructional modules that accommodates a more logical, sequential flow of
information
v alignment with standards and descriptors recently modified by the curriculum committee (Standards
emphasize character education, leadership development, the exploration of the teaching profession, and
professional and career readiness.)
v a standards alignment matrix illustrating the program’s seven overarching standards and 50 descriptors
that align with the Southern Region Education Board’s (SREB) Making Middle Grades Work initiative
PROTEAM DREAMQUEST CURRICULUM
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