Giving back to move education forward

The Moore family's commitment to education is felt at Clemson University and across generations of educators

A portrait of Eugene "Gene" T. Moore Jr. '49 greets every faculty, staff member, student and guest that comes through the lobby of Tillman Hall, the home of the Clemson University College of Education. Kirstin Bull '20, now a first-grade teacher at Spearman Elementary, walked by the portrait thousands of times as an undergraduate majoring in elementary education.

It never occurred to her that as a student preparing to be a teacher in South Carolina, she was already continuing the legacy of Moore, who devoted his life to improving communities through education. Bull was among the first students to participate in the College's teacher residency program, a bachelor's-to-master's degree program, which replaces the typical student teaching experience in the final undergraduate semester with graduate education classes. The following year is comprised of additional graduate coursework and a year-round teacher residency experience with a mentor teacher who provides ongoing support and education.

Bull was paired with mentor teacher Lisa Cunningham, also of Spearman Elementary, and she moved from a collaborative, co-teaching role in the classroom to an increasingly responsible lead-teaching role throughout her residency. Using various instructional coaching strategies she learned in her mentor teacher training, Cunningham provided valuable insight into effective teaching methodologies, helping Bull develop the knowledge and skills needed to become a highly effective teacher.

Teacher residents graduate after five years with a master's degree in education and are eligible for teacher certification in South Carolina. Prior to working with residents, mentor teachers complete graduate coursework in instructional coaching, mentoring and co-teaching.

Teacher residency is designed to increase the skills and impact of novice and veteran teachers alike. Improving PK-12 student outcomes and developing and retaining well-prepared teachers are top priorities of the program. Bull said her experience in the program defined her first year as a teacher.

"I felt really prepared my first year even though my first year took place during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic," Bull said. "Lisa continued to provide help and advice. There were challenges that were specific to certain students, and I had to work through some hard moments, but for the most part, I was on my feet and not drowning."

Cunningham likes to call herself a "grandma" in the program because, for the first time in the program's history, a former resident is now a mentor teacher. Bull is hosting resident Ellison Pruitt during the 2024-2025 academic year at Spearman Elementary. Having gained so much experience as a resident, Bull feels especially prepared to pass that knowledge to Pruitt as a teacher and a former resident.

Cunningham, meanwhile, will get to look on as a coworker and mentor to a mentor.

Cunningham, Bull and now Pruitt continue the legacy that Gene Moore inspired. The success, innovation and expansion of Clemson's teacher residency program can be traced back to one family's devotion to the betterment of themselves, their community and their state through education.

The origin of a gift

Gene, the son of educator Lucile Moore, enjoyed a long career as an educator, administrator and coach. He inspired students from his classroom, just as he inspired fellow athletes on the football and baseball fields.

He also brought that inspiration home to his two daughters, Lisa and Darla Moore, who would learn to embrace their unique educational journeys. Lisa Moore '78, a Clemson alumna like her father, is now an accomplished nurse from Daniel Island, South Carolina, and a mother of two children. Eldest daughter Darla Moore became a successful international businesswoman and philanthropist and has since become the principal benefactor of the College of Education.

The Moore family has created an enduring legacy at Clemson through their incredible support and dedication to the University's nationally renowned College of Education. In 2002, Darla Moore and her late husband, Richard Rainwater, established a transformational investment to honor her father, naming and endowing the Eugene T. Moore School of Education to recognize his lifelong commitment and passion for education and creating leadership opportunities for educators. This $10 million endowment was the largest gift Clemson had ever received at the time.

Gene Moore grew up in the small rural town of Lake City, South Carolina, with his parents and his younger brother, Donald A. "Don" Moore '56. The brothers had a close relationship and a special bond, and thanks to their mother's work as a teacher, Don, too, would go into education as Gene did.

"I never wanted to go into education, but it's been a part of our family for years," said Don Moore. "My mom, who was an older elementary school teacher, was always trying to convince me to try it, and when a job opened up at her school, I agreed to do it."

As Don forged his path as an educator, he watched as his brother's career in education progressed. Gene Moore became the assistant principal at Carver Jr. High School and, eventually, the principal of Scranton Elementary School. Staying true to his love for sports and athletics, Moore would become the Lake City High School coach, training young athletes to succeed just as he did.

"He was the type to just get along with everyone he met," said Don Moore. "He was just a real funny and outgoing guy and a great athlete, too."

Gene and his wife, Lorraine, had a passion for education that proved to be infectious. They instilled a drive for education in family members, and their daughters were no exception. To the Moore family, education is the foundation of a progressive society, a guiding principle shared by Thomas Green Clemson, the University's founder.

The gift at work

For Burke Royster, superintendent of Greenville County Schools, the Moore family's gift to Clemson and the formal creation of the College of Education in 2016 clearly signaled that Clemson prioritizes and focuses on public education. Royster said he and other educational leaders in the state view the College of Education as a valued partner and supporter of districts, not just a supplier of teachers.

"Providing well-prepared teachers is an integral public service and is in clear alignment with Clemson's position as a land-grant university," Royster said. "A program such as teacher residency that has succeeded in the ways it has, shows just how much Clemson as a whole has focused on public education and how much the Moore family gift has done to make that happen."

A mentor teacher and resident pose for a photo during Teacher Residency Match Day, an event that sees each resident open a sealed envelope to reveal their mentor teacher for the year.

Worrying teacher recruitment and retention trends were the impetus to start the program in the College of Education. According to data from the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, the 2023-24 school year began with 1,613 vacant teaching positions in South Carolina. Regarding retention, 37 percent of those moving or leaving the profession had five or fewer years of experience, making newly minted teachers the most likely to quit.

Clemson is doing its part to address these trends through programs such as teacher residency. The program has grown substantially since 2017, nearly quadrupling from an initial cohort of 23 students to 80 slated for the 2023-2024 academic year. So far, the program has graduated close to 300 students, and 98 percent of those graduates became employed as teachers.

The three-year retention rate of teacher residency graduates is 97 percent. The program prepares them to meet the challenges of those first years in the classroom, the time that has proven to be the most precarious when it comes to retaining teacher. However, as the program has developed and evolved, it has become clear that the residents are not the only ones who benefit.

Royster said the program benefits the residents and positively affects the mentor teachers and the larger school culture. He said teachers can feel isolated in their classrooms, missing the colleague-to-colleague interaction other workplaces might take for granted. Teachers work together across grade levels, but it can be hard to instill that collaboration regularly in schools.

"Any time you can build in collaboration among staff in a school it has a positive effect," Royster said. "Even if not every teacher has a resident, the excitement of one classroom can impact an entire school. Over time, the more people you can involve in this program, the more of a multiplier effect it can have on a school or an entire district."

Residency puts another adult in the classroom and establishes a co-teaching model for residents and mentors that many mentors have described as rejuvenating for their day-to-day work and careers. Cunningham said that when Bull entered her classroom as a resident, she was starting her 12^th year as a teacher. The mentoring experience revitalized her passion for teaching.

"When I was guiding Kirsten through an entire year, I didn't just touch on some things; I touched on everything," Cunningham said. "I was rethinking things I've done for years, and it forced me to be more creative in approaching things. I realized it was my responsibility to show them how to be a teacher. I saw that as a gift."

Passing the gift on

The Moore family gift has done far more than help establish teacher residency. It has also established the Eugene T. Moore Scholarships, Teacher Residency Awards and Doctoral Student Fellowships. These awards provide financial assistance that enables student success on the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The awards increase the number of students from underserved communities in College programs, encouraging students across the state to pursue careers in education and allied fields. In many cases, these students bring their expertise and passion back to rural, economically disadvantaged areas of the state.

The gift, combined with funding from the U.S. Department of Education, has also allowed the College to expand teacher residency to school districts in the Pee Dee region. The project places 16 teacher residents in participating districts in the region each year for four years, paying each a modest living stipend during their residency year when they are placed with mentor teachers.

The educators taking advantage of this stipend pursue a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) online from Clemson. These students - often career changers coming into education with a bachelor's degree in another field - are afforded the same opportunity as students in the residency program. They benefit from the additional support and spending a year with a mentor teacher while earning their master's degree and teacher certification.

According to Kristin M. Gehsmann, dean of the College of Education, generations of students, faculty and staff have already felt the effects of the Moore family's generosity. It is poised to impact the lives of many more to come.

"The Moore family's gift set our College on a trajectory to be recognized for educational excellence and innovation, not only in the state of South Carolina, but the nation and well beyond," Gehsmann said. "You see that legacy living on in every scholarship recipient who passes through our building and in every mentor-resident pair who continue to educate and inspire students - and each other - across the state."

The gift that Cunningham received and passed on to Bull is now hers to give Ellison Pruitt, an elementary education major, during the 2024-2025 academic year. From their first face-to-face meeting facilitated during the residency program's "match day," they found common ground in their teaching approach and their personalities.

They both love Taylor Swift. They're both a little on the shy side when meeting new people. They both like texting classroom ideas back and forth. Bull was immediately struck by how different that relationship felt compared to her first meeting with Cunningham years ago.

"Lisa and I were about as different as two people can get," Kirsten said, laughing. "She is so outgoing, which was helpful to me because she taught me to speak up and share my ideas, and she made me feel valued. The major thing from Lisa that I want to emulate as a mentor is to make it clear to Ellison that she is also valued in the classroom from day one."

Bull and Pruitt look forward to talking shop and troubleshooting classroom issues, much like Cunningham and Bull did five years ago and how the two compare notes even today about students they share at Spearman Elementary. Cunningham expects Bull and Pruitt to be constant visitors in her kindergarten classroom, mainly because Bull has always stopped by over the last few years, not as a resident but as a coworker.

The biggest news Bull ever came through the door with? Becoming a mentor teacher. "When Kirsten told me she was going to be a teacher residency mentor, I cried; I am tearing up now just talking about it," Cunningham said. "I walked alongside her that year and have seen her grow and become so confident. It truly is everything coming full circle. I could tell she was proud to tell me. I remember shouting, 'I'm a mentor teacher grandma!'"

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