Glitches in teacher certification system causing backlog, manual processing

‘A major, but temporary, snafu’ causing Department of Education headaches

The South Dakota Department of Education’s online portal for teacher certification and recertification underwent a $2.3 million makeover in 2022. (Screenshot DOE.SD.gov)

The Department of Education’s $2.3 million rollout of its new teacher certification processing system is not going as planned.

South Dakota teachers and administrators were alerted last week their certifications and recertifications could be delayed after the DOE ran into “a major, but temporary, snafu” during its launch of what was to be an enhanced South Dakota Educator Portal, the online system the state uses to verify whether someone is eligible to teach here.

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