FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Friday, March 26, 2021

CONTACT: Mary Stadick Smith, South Dakota Department of Education, 605-773-7228, mary.stadicksmith@state.sd.us or

Ruth Raveling, South Dakota Department of Education, 605-773-2593, ruth.raveling@state.sd.us

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:

• Educational technology
• Physical education
• Career and technical education: Foundational CTE; Architecture and Construction; Education and Training; Information Technology; Law, Public Safety, Security, and Corrections; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)

“Content standards provide the expectations for what students should know and be able to do in various subject areas,” said Secretary of Education Tiffany Sanderson. “By regularly reviewing them, we ensure that our expectations for South Dakota students remain relevant and rigorous, and prepare students for future education and the world beyond high school.”

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 standards were developed by work groups, whose members consisted of K-12 educators, postsecondary representatives, and other key stakeholders.

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

The board also adopted an updated South Dakota Standards Revision and Adoption Timeline, which will also be posted on the department’s content standards webpage.

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