TEA & MADISON, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - Dakota State University had the most active apprentices in South Dakota, with 216 students enrolled in three apprenticeship programs.

The university’s first apprenticeship program, the Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway, or TAP, launched in fall 2023. It was designed to address the state’s teacher shortage by helping paraprofessionals become licensed educators while continuing their classroom work.

The program was built through a partnership with the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, Department of Education, Board of Regents, Northern State University, local school districts, and then-Gov. Kristi Noem.

“What I have seen with apprenticeships and what I’ve learned in three short years is that they work,” said David De Jong, the dean of th

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