The purpose of the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement (CERRA) is to provide leadership in identifying, attracting, placing and retaining well-qualified individuals for the teaching profession in our state. In doing so, CERRA will respond to changing needs for teachers from underrepresented populations, in critical subject fields and in under-served geographical areas in South Carolina. The Center will work cooperatively with other organizations to promote the education profession.

CERRA is the oldest and most established teacher recruitment program in the country. The Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement, established by the Commission on Higher Education in December 1985 and funded by the South Carolina General Assembly, enters its 23rd year of operation in 2008-2009. Following the passage of the state's landmark Education Improvement Act, CERRA was created out of a concern for the condition of South Carolina's teacher supply pool and a need for a centralized teacher recruitment effort.

CERRA's agenda is a comprehensive one in which the Center pursues a variety of programs for increasing the number of students in the education pipeline and recruiting and retaining qualified, caring, and competent teachers. The Center's primary target groups are middle and high school students, college students, and adults interested in changing careers.

CERRA also targets groups of accomplished teachers through programs including mentoring, teacher leadership and National Board Certification. The network of educators in our programs overlaps in powerful ways to increase the level of collaboration for recruitment, retention, and advancement of South Carolina educators.

CERRA is staffed by an executive director, three program directors, a business manger, a public information coordinator, a coordinator of research and program development, six teachers in residence (including the S.C. Teacher of the Year), a teacher database manager, a coordinator for special education mentoring and three administrative assistants. CERRA has developed into a national model for teacher recruitment and has been adopted by approximately one-third of all teacher recruitment programs in the country.