The Lower Savannah Education and Business Alliance (LSEBA) is a dynamic regional partnership comprised of ten school districts, three postsecondary institutions, and a host of businesses, industries, and service organizations.

Business Partners (See partial listing)

The major goal of LSEBA is to facilitate collaboration between education and business as a means of providing academic and work-based opportunities for diverse K-16 learners preparing for successful careers; subsequently, developing a workforce qualified to meet changing employment demands.

Specific purposes of the Alliance are to:

• promote increased student achievement
• increase number of students entering postsecondary institutions and the workplace
• establish viable alternatives for at-risk students across institutional levels, decreasing percentage of students entering postsecondary institutions in need of remediation
• align and integrate academic and career-related courses, reorganizing curriculum around clusters of study
• expand dual enrollment/credit opportunities
• foster seamless K-16 and workplace transitions
• form linkages with education, business and industry to share tools and resources, to provide access to job professionals, and to increase work-based opportunities (i.e., internships, job shadowing, mentoring, and apprenticeships)
• respond to the challenges of the changing workplace by assisting in the implementation of state and national mandates that impact workforce preparation
• serve as a regional forum for the sharing of ideas, concerns, and labor market information which influences decisions made by service area schools, businesses, and industry
• serve as a vehicle for cooperative consultation and collaboration among educators, parents, employers, and service organizations
• create a sustainable partnership that drives planning and implementation, allowing multiple funding sources to be blended to cultivate continuity

LSEBA is dedicated to blurring the lines between education and work to ensure that students move effortlessly between the school-based and work-based learning components. In order to achieve this particular kind of integration, LSEBA promotes joint planning and extensive collaboration between faculty and business stakeholders. The Alliance addresseses the educational requirements for our current and future workforce by providing integrated curricula, comprehensive career guidance, and work-based learning opportunities such as job-shadowing, service learning, internships, and apprenticeships.

LSEBA is responding to the challenge of the changing workplace by producing more qualified workers. An important Alliance objective is to offer programs of study in expanding career fields using innovative teaching methods that engage and empower students. LSEBA has built a sequence of courses that begin in high school and culminate with a two-year postsecondary degree or certificate or with a four-year degree through the University Transfer option.  Because this course sequence is designed jointly by high school and college faculty, students are well prepared to enter postsecondary programs, enabling many to bypass remedial courses, or based on test results of high school seniors, to take needed developmental courses while still in high school. LSEBA also provides opportunities for students to obtain advanced credit for postsecondary work while still in high school, either on-site or online. The LSEBA Virtual Academy, an online learning program, offers access to high quality, flexible, and equitable K-14 educational opportunities. Currently the Virtual Academy provides online high school courses for initial credit and for content recovery through the Alliance school districts, OCtech online college courses, dual enrollment opportunities, Adult Education GED and diploma programs, and exam preparation.

LSEBA continues to provide linkages at all levels. Each school has a working relationship with the Alliance in order to build a smooth transition from high school to college. LSEBA collaborates with teachers, counselors, and administrators from the area schools and offers an opportunity for all to interact and exchange ideas. LSEBA’s compliance with the mandates of the South Carolina Education and Economic Development Act (EEDA) ensures that all students—with the guidance of their parents—have the required skills, along with the necessary current career and labor market information, to make appropriate, rewarding career decisions. LSEBA offers students pathways to their future.