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Alternate Route Usage and Providers: South
Dakota

Expanding the Pool of Teachers Policy

Look at National Findings
Goal

The state should provide an alternate route that is free from regulatory obstacles that limit its usage and providers.

Nearly meets goal
Suggested Citation:
National Council on Teacher Quality. (2011). Alternate Route Usage and Providers: South Dakota results. State Teacher Policy Database. [Data set].
Retrieved from: https://www.nctq.org/yearbook/state/SD-Alternate-Route-Usage-and-Providers-7

Analysis of South Dakota's policies

Candidates in South Dakota's Alternate Route to Teacher Certification can only teach approved subjects in grades 7-12 and K-12 certification areas. State code indicates that elementary certification is permitted under this alternate route; however, contradictory information appears on the state website.

Teach For America candidates can teach in all subject areas in low-income rural and urban communities.
South Dakota authorizes only local universities and colleges to offer Alternate Route to Teacher Certification programs. Teach For America is an approved provider in the state; however, South Dakota requires Teach For America candidates to take coursework at an accredited college or university.

Citation

Recommendations for South Dakota

Clarify usage of alternate route.
NCTQ encourages South Dakota to address and clarify the conflicting information between the state code and the state's website about the grades and subjects that can be taught through the Alternate Route to Teacher Certification.

Further expand the diversity of alternate route providers.
South Dakota is commended for supporting licensure through completion of the TFA program. The state should continue to consider policies that encourage additional providers, such as school districts and other nonprofit organizations, to operate programs.

State response to our analysis

South Dakota recognized the factual accuracy of this analysis.

    • Best practice
    • Meets goal
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    • Meets a small part of goal
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Delivering Well Prepared Teachers
Expanding the Pool of Teachers
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Research rationale

From a teacher quality perspective—and supporting NCTQ's contention for broad-based, respectable, and widely-offered programs—there exists substantial research demonstrating the need for states to adopt alternate certification programs. Independent research on candidates who earned certification through the alternate-route Teach For America (conducted by Kane, Parsons and Associates) and the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. and ABCTE) programs has found that alternate route teachers are often as effective, and, in many cases, more effective, than traditionally-prepared teachers.  See also Raymond, M., Fletcher, S., & Luque, J. (2001). Teach for America: An evaluation of teacher differences and student outcomes in Houston, Texas. Stanford, CA: The Hoover Institution, Center for Research on Education Outcomes.

Specifically, evidence of the effectiveness of candidates in respectable and selective alternate certification requirements can be found in J. Constantine, D. Player, T. Silva, K. Hallgren, M. Grider, and J. Deke, An Evaluation of Teachers Trained Through Different Routes to Certification, Final Report. National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Services, U.S. Department of Education (2009), D. Boyd, et al. "How Changes in Entry Requirements Alter the Teacher Workforce and Affect Student Achievement." Education Finance and Policy, (2006).  T. Kane, J. Rockoff, and D. Staiger. "What Does Certification Tell Us About Teacher Effectiveness? Evidence from New York City." National Bureau of Economic Research. (2006). 

A number of studies have also found alternative-certification programs such as Teach for America to produce teachers that were more effective at improving student achievement than other teachers with similar levels of experience.  See Z. Xu, J. Hannaway and C. Taylor, "Making a Difference?  The Effects of Teach for America in High School." The Urban Institute/Calder. (2009); D. Boyd et al "Recruiting Effective Math Teachers, How Do Math Immersion Teachers Compare? Evidence from New York City." Calder Institute (2009).  

For evidence that alternate route programs offered by institutions of higher education are often virtually identical to traditional programs, see Alternative Certification Isn't Alternative (NCTQ, 2007) at: http://www.nctq.org/p/publications/docs/Alternative_Certification_Isnt_Alternative_20071124023109.pdf.

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