The Palmetto Education Summit 2026

Leadership Minute is, the progress made across South Carolina, and how the program supports life skills, confidence, resilience, and civic responsibility without adding instructional burden. Participants will experience a Leadership Minute live, featuring one of the program’s civics standards—Patriotism—led by a Leadership Minute Ambassador. The session highlights the program’s innovative storytelling model, which blends animated elementary characters with real-life South Carolina athletes, coaches, and football leaders to make abstract character concepts relatable and impactful. Designed with both students and educators in mind, each one-minute video is paired with optional, easy-to-use curriculum cards that promote reflection, discussion, and real-world application while requiring minimal preparation. Attendees will explore how this dual-impact model increases classroom capacity for character instruction while keeping student growth at the center. The session also showcases how families, communities, and businesses can collaborate to extend character education beyond the classroom, creating a shared, statewide approach to developing strong, civically engaged citizens. Ideal for educators, district leaders, businesses, and community partners, this session offers an uncommon opportunity to experience the Leadership Minute while learning how intentional, daily character moments can create lasting impact. One minute at a time.

Looking for engaging civics resources that go beyond the textbook?  This session highlights the South Carolina Bar's Law Related Education programs that provide teachers with free curriculum materials, competitions, and experiential learning opportunities to students.  From Mock Trial, to We the People congressional hearings, to helping you schedule field excursions to your local courthouses, to pairing you with local attorneys to be guest speakers, the Law Related Education Division of the SC Bar is here to help!  These programs help students explore the law, develop civic knowledge, and practice the skills needed for active citizenship- all following the SC Social Studies College and Career Readiness Standards.   Participants will learn how to easily integrate these opportunities into their classrooms and schools in this interactive high energy session.

This session will guide district and school leaders through designing or strengthening a teacher‑recruitment pathway that begins in high school by intentionally stacking two CTE courses with two Teacher Cadet courses to form a complete, coherent four‑course sequence. Participants will explore how CTE and Teacher Cadet, often operating in parallel, can be strategically aligned to create a seamless pipeline from early career exploration to hands‑on pre‑educator experiences. The session will highlight how this combined pathway increases student engagement, elevates the visibility of teaching as a profession, and supports long‑term recruitment efforts by building a homegrown pool of future educators. Attendees will examine model course progressions, practical scheduling options, and examples of successful partnerships. By the end of the session, participants will be equipped with actionable next steps to launch or enhance a high‑school teacher‑recruitment pathway tailored to their district’s needs.