Some very important work got underway this summer in Pierre. A number of dedicated South Dakota educators and other stakeholders, including parents, began reviewing and revising South Dakota’s content standards in the areas of English language arts and math. At the state level, we remain committed to our standards and confident that they are preparing our students to be college, career and life ready.
Reviewing
and revising standards in all content areas is a normal process that occurs at
regular intervals (on average, about every seven years) to ensure students
experience the most up-to-date, relevant education possible.
Throughout
the 2016-17 school year, all of our state’s K-12 educators will have the
opportunity to study the standards work groups’ proposed changes and offer
feedback.
This
is a great professional development opportunity. Department of Education staff
and standards work group participants have developed a standards review toolkit
to help guide schools’ discussions. In addition, a number of these individuals
will be available to give school staff presentations on these topics.
Unfortunately,
there is sometimes a misperception that standards review is simply a matter of
reading over existing standards and offering some minor tweaks. However, if you
could be a “fly on the wall” during these meetings, I promise you would hear a
good deal of energetic discussion and debate from individuals who are
passionate advocates for South Dakota students. Feedback from Redfield
Elementary Principal and ELA work group member Samantha Walder is a great
example:
“There
were educated, informed (sometimes lively) debates over the addition, amendment
or deletion of nearly every word or phrase in almost every ELA Standard Strand
K-12,” Walder said.
In
June 2017, the math and ELA standards work groups will meet to consider
feedback from the education field and make any necessary changes before the
revised standards are taken to the state Board of Education for public
hearings. Four public hearings on each set of standards will be held during the
2017-18 school year.
Find
detailed information on the revision process for these standards on the
Department of Education website:
