Office of Accreditation & Teacher Quality

Highly Qualified Teachers (HQT)

Letter Regarding the Removal of the HOUSSE Procedures

Highly Qualified Teachers Definitions

Highly Qualified Teachers Questions & Answers

Questions and Answers on Highly Qualified Teachers Serving Students with Disabilities

Tracking Your Staff Members' HQT Status
Now you can track the status of your staff with the “Highly Qualified Status” report available on the PRF system at  https://www.state.sd.us/applications/common/launchpad/Logon.asp.To access the information, you will need to enter your district user name and password. Then the screen list of which of your teachers are not highly qualified in core content areas they may be teaching.

The highly qualified status report reflects the current (live) data available in the certification program.  For this reason, it may be difficult or impossible to replicate the statistics on the report card due to any number of changes to your teachers’ certificates (i.e. if a teacher’s certificate expired on July 1, 2004 and this teacher has NOT completed the renewal process, they may currently be reported as NOT highly qualified).

Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements
To be highly qualified, teachers must be properly certified in all the content areas they are teaching. If they do not have a major and have contractual teaching experience prior to the 2002-03 school year, they must be fully authorized and have three years of teaching experience, a graduate degree or National Board Certification. 

Sample Parent Notification Letter - Word | PDF

Contact
If you have questions regarding “Highly Qualified Teacher Status,” please contact Lanette Johnston at 773-8415.