Chapter 9: USC–Upstate and Student Success Data

Kate is a typical pre-service teacher enrolled in the teacher education program at the University of South Carolina Upstate (USC Upstate). The above case scenario with those questions on if she will be successfully completing her teacher education degree, what makes a pre-service teacher successful, and how other female pre-service teachers have navigated in the program with the same challenges are critical for all teacher educators to think.

The University of South Carolina Upstate is a regional comprehensive public university located in the upstate of South Carolina, a growing metropolitan region in the state with approximately 1.5 million people in the combined statistical area of Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson. USC Upstate serves approximately 6,000 undergraduate students, representing all counties within the state of South Carolina, 32 states in the United States, and 24 countries. At USC Upstate, 76% of students attend full time and 24% attend part time. Of those, 84% live off campus and commute into campus, with 16% of students living on campus (Department of Education, 2017; University of South Carolina-Upstate, n.d.).