South Dakota Education and Teaching Overview

South Dakota is a state that has a reasonable cost-of-living, and a small population that is spread out over the landscape. Many who are teaching in South Dakota are there today because larger schools did not fit with their personality or individual needs for a way to teach to small groups of children instead of in overcrowded classrooms.


South Dakota Teacher Requirements

The middle school and high school class sizes in South Dakota generally run under 20 students per teacher. This allows for instructors to achieve extra successes with individual older students while teaching in South Dakota so that later overall graduation rates, future academic successes, and a pleasant lifestyle is achieved for students from these schools.

South Dakota has a very high traditional graduation rate at over 84%, while the rest of the country often experiences near 25% of their students choosing not to graduate. Further, South Dakota’s high traditional graduation rates are going up as students learn through media sources that jobs in America are hard to secure right now.

Teaching within small communities is not for everybody because there is no room to hide insufficiencies in a crowd. South Dakota has a few larger population school districts, but for the most part, this is an old-fashioned state that is still taking extreme pride in their local public schools. When the community cares about schools, the schools receive all funding necessary to make each child’s scholastic experience very meaningful.

South Dakota Teacher Requirements

South Dakota is a state with a smaller population dispersed around the landscape. The future needs for those teaching in South Dakota may revolve around the oil exploration industry moving into the state and placing large sudden demands on the available school resources. Nobody knows what the future will bring, but this problem has been seen in other states recently as the populations grow very fast over a few year stretch, then reduce just as fast when the industry moves on to other areas for explorations.

Choosing a career of teaching in South Dakota in the future will also probably include a vast amount of changes that may be mandated from the national level of education. Today, almost all states have problems with teacher shortages in prime areas that are needed for our youth to receive a proper education that will allow them to compete globally for jobs that other countries are receiving training for right now. There are shortages in mathematics, sciences, physics, and technology.

Future jobs in all areas of teaching will always be available in South Dakota, and perhaps more-so if the energy industry moves in en masse. Teachers with a BA degree can find jobs today, but the better paying jobs in the future will probably be devoted to the areas that are lacking today. Mathematics, science, and technology are the jobs that our planet is hiring for right now, and our local children must be able to compete if we expect them to have a high quality future lifestyle. Change may come to South Dakota in the future.

Online Colleges Offering Education and Teaching Degrees

Accreditation  

University of Phoenix is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association. .

Programs Offered  
  • Master of Arts in Teaching
  • Master of Arts in Teaching with Teaching Credential
Accreditation  

Walden University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of The North Central Association,www.ncahlc.org; 312-263-0456.

Accreditation  

The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Accreditation  

Western Governors University is the only university to have received simultaneous accreditation by four regional accrediting commissions. Currently, WGU’s "home" accrediting commission is the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, the same organization that accredits such leading institutions as the University of Washington, University of Oregon, University of Utah, Brigham Young University, and other public and private colleges. WGU is also nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC). WGU is the first online university to receive NCATE accreditation for its degree programs that lead to teacher licensure from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). WGU’s Health Informatics program is now accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education (CAHIIM). WGU’s Nursing programs are CCNE accredited.

Campus Colleges Offering Education and Teaching Degrees

Accreditation  

University of Phoenix is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association. .

Programs Offered  
  • Master of Arts in Teaching
  • Master of Arts in Teaching with Teaching Credential
Accreditation  

Kaplan University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Accreditation  

McCann School of Business & Technology is accredited to award occupational associate degrees and certification diplomas by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, a nationally recognized accrediting agency by the United States Department of Education,.

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 * Based on 5 years experience