South Dakota Adult Education
Instructor Credential Program
Validate Your Expertise
Research demonstrates that the quality of instruction has a significant impact on student performance. As a result, federal and state agencies, along with national organizations, have established higher standards and expectations for adult education instructors.
In 2018, the South Dakota Adult Education Professional Development Team began developing a system of credentials to recognize instructors who have demonstrated training in evidence-based teaching practices. These credentials focus on learning theories, instructional strategies, and teaching frameworks specific to Adult Education and Literacy.
Demonstrate Your Ability
Managing a program and supporting adult learners requires dedication and a commitment to ongoing professional growth. To support adult education professionals in this work, SDALL partnered with the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation to develop the South Dakota Adult Education Credential Program. The program provides a streamlined, state-recognized framework for strengthening instructional practice and recognizing instructors’ professional learning.
Credential Application & Delivery Process
After completing all required coursework, online modules, and live sessions for your credential, follow these steps to request your official state certificate:
Submit the Application Form: Complete the online Credential Application Form. Ensure all contact details, program affiliation, and physical mailing address are accurate.
Instructor Review & Verification: Your instructor or trainer will review your application against course records to verify:
Full attendance and participation in all required online modules and live sessions.
Satisfactory completion of assignments and demonstration of competencies.
Upon confirmation, the instructor will formally certify your completion and submit the recommendation for credentialing.
State Issuance & Mailing: Once certified, your credential will be issued by the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation (SDDLR). A physical copy of your official credential certificate will be mailed directly to the address provided on your application form. Please allow up to 4 weeks for processing and postal delivery.
Note: Application details and completed credential status will be shared with your local program supervisor for administrative recordkeeping.
Adult Education Instructor Development Program
(AEIDP) Core Credential
- Estimated Completion Time: 20 Hours
- Target Audience: Basic skills instructors in Adult Basic Education (ABE) and Adult Secondary Education (ASE programs.
- Overview: Prepares new and veteran instructors to deliver high-quality adult education grounded in evidence-based teaching methodologies, adult learning theories, and instructional frameworks.
- Curriculum Breakdown:
- Unit 1: Working with Adult Learners — Examines adult learner characteristics and provides and overview of the adult education landscape
- Unit 2: Working with Students — Covers the continuum of adult services, student intake assessment, and orientation best practices.
- Unit 3: Instruction — Addresses program structures, direct and explicit instruction, College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS), Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK), distance learning, lesson planning, and supporting students with specialized needs.
- Unit 4: Progress and Motivation — Focuses on post-testing protocols and strategies to keep students engaged.
- Unit 5: GED® Testing — Covers the history of the GED®, 2014 exam policies, and administration rules.
- Unit 6: New Instructors Book Study — Guided collaborative reading on core adult pedagogy.
English Language Instructor Development Program
(ELIDP) Core Credential
- Estimated Completion Time: 26 Hours
- Target Audience: Instructors, administrators, tutors, and staff working within English Language Acquisition (ELA) programs.
- Overview: Prepares educators to deliver effective English language instruction by combining second-language acquisition research, communicative techniques, and practical classroom application. Also equips administators to support ELA program design and leadership.
- Curriculum Breakdown:
- Phase I: Face-to-Face Training (16 Topics) — Covers second-language acquisition principles, guided classroom observations, communicative ESL techniques, limiting “teacher talk,” cultural continuums, lesson planning workshops, practice teaching with mentor feedback, program administration, and a refugee resettlement overview.
- Phase II: Applied Action Research — Involves reflecting on classroom practice, conducting targeted research, implementing a classroom project, and evaluating learner outcomes.
- Phase III: Professional Learning Community Collaboration — Requires presenting action research findings at the South Dakota Adult Education Conference (SDAEC) Action Research Forum or through a similar opportunity to share findings, whether in-person or virtual.
Numeracy Specialty Credential
- Estimated Completion Time: 50 Hours (3 two-day institutes + 3 web-based regional meetings)
- Target Audience: Adult education math instructors and GED®/High School Equivalency preparation teachers.
- Overview: Grounded in national research from the Adult Numeracy Instruction (ANI-PD) initiative to build instructor mathematical content knowledge and evidence-based math pedagogy.
- Curriculum Breakdown:
- Institute I & Web Meeting I: Number Sense (Whole Numbers & Money) and Geometry.
- Institute II & Web Meeting II: Number Sense (Fractions, Decimals, Percents), Data, Statistics, and Graphs.
- Institute III & Web Meeting III: Number & Operations Sense (Integers) and Algebra.
- Calculator Literacy Component: Training on the TI-30XS scientific calculator, calculator instruction methods, and GED® calculator tutorials.
- Retroactive Qualification: Participants who completed the 2018 ANI-PD cohort qualify for this credential.
Reading Specialty Credential (STAR)
- Estimated Completion Time: 45 to 60 Hours over 9 months
- Delivery Format: Flipped hybrid model featuring 2 one-day face-to-face meetings and 23 self-paced online modules with classroom application assignments.
- Target Audience: Instructors teaching intermediate-level adult readers.
- Overview: Built on the national STudent Achievement in Reading (STAR) reform initiative to implement Evidence-Based Reading Instruction (EBRI) in adult education.
- Curriculum Breakdown:
- Section 1: Diagnostic Assessment & EBRI — Introduction to evidence-based reading instruction and diagnostic reading assessment tools.
- Section 2: Instructional Fundamentals — Explicit teaching strategies for intermediate reading components (vocabulary, fluency, alphabetics, and comprehension).
- Section 3: Implementation & Sustainability — Strategies for sustaining EBRI practices across adult education classrooms.
- Retroactive Qualification: Only participants who completed STAR training in 2019 or later qualify.
Motivating the Adult Learner Specialty Credential
- Estimated Completion Time: 15 Hours
- Delivery Format: Hybrid study-circle model across 6 sections (Each section includes 90 minutes of independent online preparation + 60 minutes of live, synchronous peer study circle).
- Target Audience: Basic skills instructors, ESL teachers, and community volunteers seeking to improve student persistence and course retention.
- Overview: Utilizes Essential Education’s Teaching Essentials Professional Development Series to equip educators with actionable, evidence-based strategies to lower emotional barriers, foster resilience, and increase learner self-efficacy.
- Curriculum Breakdown:
- Section 1: Understanding Motivation — Connects Attribution, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Determination theories to classroom practice while managing external incentives.
- Section 2: Student-Related Factors & Motivation — Shifts learners from fixed-intelligence mindsets to goal-oriented mastery mindsets using two-way reflection journals and diagnostic conversations.
- Section 3: Instructor-Related Factors (Part 1) — Identifies common demotivating teaching habits and transitions instructor roles from knowledge transmitters to learning facilitators.
- Section 4: Instructor-Related Factors (Part 2) — Implements the CAST Feedback Model (Clear, Actionable, Specific, Timely) and promotes culturally inclusive, age-appropriate language and materials.
- Section 5: Environmental Factors & Motivation — Identifies non-academic barriers (school, home, external) and establishes institutional referral strategies.
- Section 6: Using Technology to Increase Motivation — Integrates Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) platforms to differentiate pacing, optimize time-on-task, and satisfy learner autonomy.
Attendance & Makeup Policy
Full participation in all six (6) live study circle sessions is required for certification. If you miss up to two (2) live sessions due to unforeseen conflicts, you may earn makeup credit by submitting your completed study guide(s) for the missed section(s) when you apply for your credential. Note: Missing more than two live sessions will require re-enrolling in those sections during a future course offering.
