FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, May 6, 2022

CONTACT: Mary Stadick Smith, 605-773-7228, or Ruth Raveling, 605-773-2593

Board adopts new content standards in several subject areas

RAPID CITY, S.D. – The South Dakota Board of Education Standards adopted new academic content standards in the following subject areas at its meeting today:

• Fine arts
• Career and technical education: Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources; Arts, Audio/Video Technology, and Communication; Finance; Health Science; Human Services; and Manufacturing

Content standards provide the expectations for what students should know and be able to do in various subject areas.

State law requires that the Board of Education Standards review academic content standards on a cyclical basis. In addition, the board is required to host four public hearings as part of the standards review process. Today’s standards adoption came after the conclusion of the fourth public hearing on these content standards. Following standards adoption by the state board, school districts work to make sure that their local curriculum and instructional materials align to these state-set expectations for student learning.

The newly adopted standards will be posted soon at https://doe.sd.gov/contentstandards/.

In other business, the board expanded the age range for which students may qualify for developmental delay under special education rules from ages three through five to ages three to nine. This change is part of a larger rules package related to special education.

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