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South Carolina

Verified against current sources (2026-05-08) Cite this page ↓

South Carolina offers Bilingual Education as an add-on endorsement; ELD/ESL is available both as a standalone license and as an add-on endorsement. SEI training is not mandated for all teachers. As of 2021, 5.8% of public-school students are classified English Learners (NCES). Re-verified against current SEA sources on 2026-05-08.

5.8%
classified ELs (2021-10-01)
view trend →
Bil + ELD
credential types offered

Credentials

Bilingual education

  • Add-on endorsement
Approved program
Not required
Coursework
Required
Practicum
Not required
Subject test
Not required
Language proficiency
Unknown

On 2025-09-02 the SC State Board of Education approved a new add-on Dual Language Immersion (DLI) Teacher Endorsement (also DLI Coach and DLI Instructional Leadership endorsements). The DLI Teacher endorsement is added to an existing Initial, Professional, or Alternative Route certificate by completing two 3-semester-hour courses (Foundations of Dual Language Immersion; DLI Methods: Key Practices in Content-Based Language Instruction) with a grade of C or better. No practicum, no subject-area test, and no separately-stated language-proficiency exam are listed in the SBE-approved requirements (`languageProficiency` coded null because proficiency is implicit in the DLI role but the published endorsement requirements do not specify a proficiency screen). Coursework may be waived for completion of a comprehensive, extended sequence of professional learning approved by SCDE. There is no standalone bilingual education certification field; DLI is an add-on only.

ESOL Endorsement

  • Standalone certification
  • Add-on endorsement
Approved program
Required
Coursework
Required
Practicum
Required
Subject test
Required

Two coexisting EL credentials: (1) the ESOL field certification (Grades PK-12) — a standalone certification field; per SCDE Add-On Guidelines Section G the ESOL field 'requires specialized preparation and may not be added by method of exam,' so candidates must complete an approved preparation program or the listed coursework pathway. The pedagogy exam is Praxis PLT 5625 PreK-12 and the subject-area exam is Praxis 5362 (English to Speakers of Other Languages, qualifying score 155, per the 2025-26 Required Assessments document). The coursework pathway requires Principles and Strategies for Teaching ESOL to PK-12 Learners, Linguistics, Teaching Reading and Writing to LEP Learners, and two electives — including a Practicum in the Instruction of ESOL that may be waived with one year of successful ESOL teaching experience. (2) The ESOL Endorsement, an add-on for already-certified educators, requires Cultural and Linguistic Diversity for ESOL Educators, Principles and Strategies for Teaching ESOL to PK-12 Learners, and a 15-hour ESOL practicum (which may be embedded in the coursework). Coursework for the endorsement may be waived for an SCDE-approved sequence of professional learning.

Sheltered English Instruction (SEI)

Not mandated for all teachers.

South Carolina does not impose a universal Sheltered English Immersion / EL-instruction requirement on all teachers. EL-specific preparation obligations attach only to candidates seeking the ESOL field certification, the ESOL Endorsement, or the new DLI endorsements.

State policy signals

Seal of Biliteracy

Recognition for graduating students proficient in English plus another language.

Adopted in 2018.

Source: sealofbiliteracy.org (opens in a new tab)

ELP assessment

Annual English Language Proficiency test used for EL identification and reclassification.

ACCESS for ELLs · WIDA Consortium member.

Source: wida.wisc.edu (opens in a new tab)

History of licensure

Dated policy and verification events shaping this state's EL teacher credentials.

  1. EPAA 29(100) document analysis (Leider, Colombo & Nerlino, 2021)

    Leider, Colombo & Nerlino published in Education Policy Analysis Archives 29(100) a comprehensive document analysis of every state and DC's bilingual, ELD/ESL, and SEI teacher-credentialing requirements, professional teaching standards mentions, and EL-percentage figures, based on primary SEA sources collected October–December 2019. The 2019 coding of South Carolina's EL-credentialing landscape is preserved as a temporally-anchored research baseline against which the catalog's later verifications are framed.

    doi.org (opens in a new tab)

  2. SC SBE approves Dual Language Immersion (DLI) endorsements

    South Carolina State Board of Education approves new add-on endorsements for Dual Language Immersion: DLI Teacher (two required 3-semester-hour courses), DLI Coach, and DLI Instructional Leadership. This is the first SCDE-issued bilingual-program credential. Promotes `bilingual.offered` from false to true and `bilingual.addOn` from false to true.

    ed.sc.gov (opens in a new tab)

Sources

  1. [1] South Carolina Department of Education (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2019-11-15 (via Leider et al. 2021)
  2. [2] Leider, Colombo & Nerlino (2021), EPAA 29(100). Tables 2-5 + Appendix A. (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2019-11-15 (via Leider et al. 2021)
  3. [3] SCDE — Guidelines and Requirements for Adding Certification Fields and Endorsements (Updated September 10, 2019; current document on SCDE Educator Services as of 2026-05-08). Defines the ESOL field certification (p. 12) and the ESOL Endorsement (p. 35). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  4. [4] SCDE — Endorsements for Dual Language Immersion (DLI) for Teachers, Coaches and Instructional Leaders (approved by SC State Board of Education 2025-09-02). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  5. [5] SCDE — South Carolina Certification Assessment Program: Required Assessments, 2025-26 Academic Year (posted July 2025). Praxis 5362 ESOL (qualifying score 155); Praxis PLT 5625 PreK-12. (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  6. [6] SCDE — Expanded ADEPT Support and Evaluation System: Teacher Standards Rubric Handbook (NIET Teaching Standards 4.0). Adopted by SCDE for ADEPT teacher evaluation; rubric does not mention 'diverse,' 'linguistic,' 'English learner,' 'ELL,' 'ESL,' 'ESOL,' or 'LEP'; references 'cultural heritage,' 'cultural centers,' and 'Respectful Culture.' (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  7. [7] WIDA Consortium — member directory (South Carolina listed; uses ACCESS for ELLs). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08
  8. [8] NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023, Table 204.20 — English learners enrolled in public schools by state, fall 2021 (South Carolina: 41,949 / 5.6%). (opens in a new tab) — retrieved 2026-05-08

Cite this page

Site content is published under CC BY 4.0. When citing a fact from this page, please cite both projectcert and the original Leider et al. (2021) paper the dataset extends.

APA
projectcert. (2026, May 8). South Carolina EL teacher certification. https://projectcert.org/states/sc/
Leider, C. M., Colombo, M. W., & Nerlino, E. (2021). Decentralization, teacher quality, and the education of English learners: Do state education agencies effectively prepare teachers of ELs? Education Policy Analysis Archives, 29(100). https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.29.5279
BibTeX
@misc{projectcert_sc_2026,
  author  = {{projectcert}},
  title   = {{South Carolina EL teacher certification}},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://projectcert.org/states/sc/},
  urldate = {2026-05-08},
  note    = {Last verified 2026-05-08}
}
@article{leider2021decentralization,
  author  = {Leider, Christine M. and Colombo, Michaela W. and Nerlino, Erika},
  title   = {{Decentralization, teacher quality, and the education of English learners: Do state education agencies effectively prepare teachers of ELs?}},
  journal = {Education Policy Analysis Archives},
  volume  = {29},
  number  = {100},
  year    = {2021},
  doi     = {10.14507/epaa.29.5279}
}

See the methodology for how these data were collected, or the glossary for term definitions.