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For-Credit RTBE Courses Multiple

A growing number of for-credit high school Released Time Bible Education (RTBE) courses are being offered in South Carolina. In many cases they are add-ons to existing RTBE programs being offered at the middle school level. In 2008—2009, such for-credit high school level courses were offered in Clarendon, Greenville, Greer, Spartanburg District Two and Upstate. Ten schools were involved in these programs with 404 students participating over the fall and spring semesters. Additional for-credit high school classes are planned for the coming fall—including new initiatives to be offered by Coastal Ministries, Spartanburg District One, and York District One.

This growth has been possible because of the passage in 2006 of the SC Released Time Credit Act (RTCA). Up to this point it was difficult to get high school students to enroll in RTBE programs because the typical high school student’s schedule was already full due to the number of credit hours required for high school graduation. The only feasible approach was to obtain an addition to SC law that would provide a legal way to allow high school students to obtain elective academic credit for released time programs. A group of organizations--led by SMI—did just that, and already there have been significant outcomes of that imitative, and there’s no reason to believe that there won’t be lots more to come!