Charleston, South Carolina – A Charleston County teacher was awarded a performance incentive of more than $50,000 after her children achieved strong academic achievements during the 2024-2025 school year.
Sydney Carroll, who has been teaching for six years, saw her students’ competence rates increase from 7% to 45% in a single academic year. At the start of the school year, only 7% of her kids were on grade level. By the end of the year, test results revealed that 45% of her students was learning at proficient levels.
“This year, my goal is to achieve 100 percent. I still think forty-five is a failure. Carroll stated that allowing barely half of her students to attend high school on grade level is unacceptable.
The ‘Excellence in Teaching Award’ program gives a large payout.
Carroll received the Excellence in Teaching Award as a result of his accomplishments. She was one of 526 instructors in the state who received a monetary performance bonus for academic achievement. The average bonus paid out was $8,800. A first-year teacher in Charleston County earned $56,000 last year.
Carroll did, however, receive a bonus of $57,250.
“I’ll explain that the money was undoubtedly life-changing. I was able to pay off my student debt. I was able to contribute a significant portion of my savings. I was able to pay for some of my graduate school with cash. Carroll added, “I never thought I could do that as a teacher.”
bite-sized
Carroll received a higher medal because many of her kids, who started in second or fourth grade, advanced two grade levels in nine months. She thanks Principal Roger Michael for their early morning professional training sessions.
“And for 30 minutes we would practice the lesson she’s teaching with a bite-sized action step,” Michael told me.
“He would ask, ‘What do you want your students to know when they leave your class today?” “What is the mastery statement?” Carroll stated.
Michael believes it is critical that instructors be recognized for the progress they make despite the fact that no one is observing.
“The labor is too difficult to accomplish solely for the money. If they were doing it for the awards, they wouldn’t last the year. So our instructors are actually earning this because they want their children to succeed. Michael added, “In a world where we are pushing for high student outcomes.”
The teacher remains focused on growth.
Despite her academic progress, Carroll does not consider herself a great teacher.
“There are times when I say, ‘Yeah, I crushed that.'” I did good. But then there are times when I simply sit down and say, “I need to grow from this.” Let’s sort this out. So, generally, I would not consider myself outstanding. “I would say I’m hungry,” Carroll replied. “My job is my life.”
The Excellence in Teaching awards are funded by Ben and Kelly Navarro, private philanthropists. The awards have also been enhanced using public support from the South Carolina Department of Education.
