Part 1: Key Facts
Student & Teacher Information
According to 2006-2007 data from the U.S. Department of Education (the latest numbers publicly available), the total number of CTE students in South Dakota was 44,171. This includes the following:
- Secondary: 40,039
- Postsecondary: 4,132
Delivery System/School Information
At the secondary level, CTE in South Dakota is delivered through a combination of comprehensive high schools, multi-district CTE centers, tribal schools and alternative state schools.
Postsecondary CTE is delivered through four technical institutes and six four-year public universities.
Funding/Financing for CTE
Federal: South Dakota is estimated to have received $4,353,301 from the Perkins Basic State Grant and $352,942 from Tech Prep in FY 2008. Of funds distributed by formula to local programs, 50 percent go to secondary programs and 50 percent to postsecondary programs.
State: South Dakota has appropriated $1.5 million in funds for CTE to be distributed through competitive grants. Funds are to be used to enhance, expand and develop new programs and opportunities in secondary CTE. Applicants are encouraged to collaborate in combining resources to provide secondary CTE opportunities in a regional/multi-center/cooperative approach. Proposal objectives correlate with the goals and objectives of the South Dakota Department of Education’s High School 2025 and efforts to encourage students and families to learn about and prepare for postsecondary education.
All projects are organized around a career cluster/pathway and all new courses or programs developed must adhere to the requirements for approved programs established by the state’s Office of Career and Technical Education.
Part 2: State Administration
Key State CTE Contacts
Mark Wilson
Director, Office of Career and Technical Education
700 Governors Drive
Pierre, SD 57501
Phone: 605-773-4773
State Agencies
The South Dakota State Board of Education is the eligible agency that receives and distributes federal Perkins funds. The Office for Career and Technical Education (OCTE) in the South Dakota Department of Education (SDDOE) is responsible for the daily governance and leadership of all secondary CTE in South Dakota. The South Dakota Board of Education, Department of Education and local school boards govern the technical institutes. The South Dakota Board of Regents (SDBOR) governs the college and university system.
State Standards for CTE
South Dakota had previously developed content standards for each of its six old career areas. These standards were based on technical skills and industry standards. New course standards for CTE are being developed based on cluster knowledge and skills statements, industry standards and national standards. The new standards will be required for use by all secondary CTE programs. Standards are being validated by industry groups and postsecondary educators. Programs are approved by career cluster and adopt that cluster's state standards.
Program Approval/Quality Control
At the secondary level, the Program Improvement Process (PIP) provides CTE programs in South Dakota with a self-evaluation to determine current program performance and steps for improvement. As part of the process, teachers and advisory committees determine three to five goals to guide them in improvement. The PIP assists programs in meeting state and federal requirements and is required for CTE programs to achieve “Approved Program” status, which makes them eligible for federal funding. Part of the PIP is an approval process for new CTE programs.
South Dakota is currently in the process of creating a new program-approval/quality-control system for postsecondary schools, which will place emphasis on the applicable national accreditation body.
Part 3: CTE Initiatives & Related Policies
State Education & Workforce Agenda
In 2006, South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds launched the 2010 Education Initiative (2010E) to reform the state’s education system from pre-kindergarten through postsecondary. The Office of Career and Technical Education and the Department of Education are leading the Governor’s 2010 Education Initiative to strengthen and transform education. The three goals of 2010E are:
Starting Strong
- By 2010, all third-grade students will be proficient, or on a learning plan to become proficient, in reading and math.
Finishing Strong
- By 2010, South Dakota will be first in the nation for the percentage of students going on to college, technical school or advanced training.
- By 2010, the postsecondary education system will fully meet the needs of the state's changing economy and its citizens.
Staying Strong
- By 2010, South Dakota will build its educator base through targeted recruitment, retention and training.
- By 2010, South Dakota will increase educational outcomes for Native American students.
- By 2010, South Dakota will target financial resources to improve classroom instruction and educational opportunities.
Over the past few years, secondary and postsecondary CTE have moved onto the “radar screen” of state legislators and the public in South Dakota. The OCTE has made great strides in becoming a fully integrated partner in the work of the SDDOE.
Workforce 2025 is a collaborative effort from the SDDOE, SDBOR, South Dakota Department of Labor and South Dakota Department of Tourism and State Development to ensure South Dakota has a competent and qualified workforce to allow for economic growth and expansion. There are five aspects of Workforce 2025:
- Live Dakota: An effort to retain current South Dakotans in the workforce
- Grow Dakota: An effort to prepare students to enter the workforce
- Dakota Roots: An effort to recruit individuals and businesses to South Dakota
- Dakota Seeds: An effort to increase the number of internships and assistantships
- Build Dakota: An effort to assess the workforce needs of industries statewide
In his 2009 State of the State address, Gov. Rounds proposed to continue work on the 2010 Education Initiative and Workforce 2025. The governor proposed $4 million in state funds to increase teacher salaries, pay teachers for additional training and help school districts hire teachers; called for a 2.5 percent increase in per-student state aid for local schools; and expanded Opportunity Scholarships by lowering the ACT requirement from 24 to 23 to allow more than 200 additional students to qualify. Governor Rounds wants the state to continue to meet the Workforce 2025 goal of doubling visitor spending in South Dakota from $600 million to $1.2 billion by 2010.
High School Redesign
South Dakota is a member state of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The state’s strategies for the 21st Century Skills project and high school reform are the following:
- Developing a consensus among stakeholders on the 21st century skills needed by South Dakota students
- Aligning K-12, workforce development and economic development strategies
- Creating a teacher professional development strategy for 21st century skills
- Using a full range of assessments, including high-stakes and classroom assessments, to measure 21st century skills
- Focusing on reforming high schools and refining rigor to include 21st century skills
- Collaborating with youth development and after-school programs on a community strategy to pursue 21st century skills
OCTE is a partner in the development of the South Dakota 21st Century High Schools Framework called High School 2025, which is part of South Dakota’s Workforce 2025 project. The High School 2025 framework is built on the following desired characteristics: The new four R’s—relationships, relevance, rigor and results—plus leadership and professional development.
OCTE will be instrumental in redesigning South Dakota’s high schools. The goals of the 2010 Education Initiative, the major redesign effort in South Dakota, contain many of OCTE’s reform efforts. Goal two of 2010E’s “Finishing Strong” focuses on high schools and states that “by 2010, South Dakota will be first in the nation for the percentage of students going on to college, technical schools or advanced training.” The goal is being met by:
- Implementing personal learning plans for students
- Requiring students to stay in high school until age 18
- Exploring options for alternative education
- Implementing Teachers as Advisors
- Expanding access to advanced placement, dual credit and accelerated
- Learning courses
- Creating end-of-course benchmark examinations
- Implementing senior experiences and youth internship program models
- Creating a state scholars program that connects schools to businesses
- Creating a statewide virtual high school whose curriculum will contain many CTE courses
The South Dakota State Scholars Initiative is part of a national program that motivates students to complete a rigorous course of study in high school with the goal of better preparing them for success in postsecondary education or training, as well as in their future careers.
At the core of the initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education (OVAE) and administered by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in coordination with the SDDOE, are state-level partnerships between the business and education communities to encourage middle and high school students to excel academically.
Career Academies
Currently, no true career academies exist in the state. Multi-district centers do function to provide CTE coursework to surrounding schools; however, efforts are under way to explore how to encourage the growth of career academies.
Role of Career Clusters
In South Dakota, the 16 national career clusters are being used as a tool for re-organizing CTE programs, an aid in developing programs of study, a basis for the personal learning plan and one of the foundations of the new content standards for all CTE programs. Each of the 16 clusters has or will have a Career Cluster Implementation (CCI) Committee working on them. The work of the committees is to develop programs of study, core-course standards and units of instruction integrating academics and technology. The following CCI Committees began work in 2006-2007:
- Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources
- Architecture & Construction
- Education & Training
- Health Science
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Human Services
- Information Technology
- Manufacturing
- Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics
The second group of CCI Committees began in 2007-2008 and included:
- Arts, A/V Technology & Communication
- Business Management & Administration
- Finance
- Marketing, Sales & Service
- Transportation, Distribution & Logistics
CCI Committees will begin working on the Government & Public Administration and Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security clusters no later than the 2011 school year. Piloting the programs of study began in fall 2008 and will continue through spring 2009.
Academic & CTE Integration
South Dakota is also implementing the Writing to Win (WTW) program and modifying the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education’sMath-in-CTE program as part of the state’s integration efforts. Writing to Win is a research-based writing system that uses non-fiction writing as an assessment tool. WTW strategies help students learn content-area knowledge and skills to a much higher level by encouraging critical thinking and active engagement with content knowledge. A math specialist from the Southern Region Education Board/High Schools That Work works with teachers who have successfully integrated math and CTE programs to train CTE and math teachers to work together to reinforce the math naturally taught in CTE classrooms. To date, two workshops have been offered. The plan is to continue to have at least one workshop each year.
The South Dakota CTE Scholar Program also provides a way to evaluate the extent of academic/CTE integration. The CTE Scholar Program recognizes students who have completed a minimum of two credits in a program of study plus one credit in a supporting course including academics, technology and internships, at the junior or senior level. The technical coursework is eligible for articulated credit to postsecondary technical institutions. To become a CTE Scholar, students must maintain a minimum of an A- in the CTE course work and over a 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale.
Building on previous integration projects, South Dakota is planning on new crosswalks that will be built around new content standards and cluster standards as well.
Science, Technology, Engineering & Math Initiatives
The College of Engineering at South Dakota State University conducts four camps and workshops that provide interested K-12 students a way to explore how their interests can be translated into a college major and, subsequently, a challenging and financially rewarding career. These are inexpensive and effective ways for young people to explore the possibilities of a career in science, engineering and technology. There is heavy emphasis on hands-on activities and experiencing life as a student on a top science and engineering university campus. These camps and workshops also introduce students to the college search process and scholarship opportunities and give them a chance to work with college students, faculty and professionals.
Secondary/Postsecondary Linkages
Programs of Study: To begin the program of study development, OCTE invited secondary teachers, postsecondary teachers representing two- and four-year institutions, business and industry representatives and Tech Prep regional coordinators to participate in Career Cluster Implementation Committees (CCIC). State cluster specialists led the committees in the development of programs of study. The committees were charged with the responsibility of developing a state model for programs of study. These state models clearly illustrate the secondary-postsecondary connection and provide a planning tool for secondary and postsecondary teachers to work together. The programs of study also provide a vehicle for developing more accurate and consistent articulation agreements based on a planning model rather than on what is currently being taught at both levels.
Tech Prep: Tech Prep grant awards will be awarded on a formula, with 25 percent of the Tech Prep grant going to each of the four Tech Prep consortia. Each Tech Prep consortium will be required to have a $50,000 match. Plans are also in place to include a Tech Prep line item in the state postsecondary technical education budget for 2008-2009.
Dual Enrollment & Articulation: Currently, postsecondary institutions are beginning to offer dual or concurrent enrollment programs. They already offer a significant number of online programs for their postsecondary students. Making these courses available to secondary students for dual credit and/or concurrent enrollment is being explored. OCTE is also pursuing the development of online and distance education opportunities for secondary students through the use of state funds specifically designated for this purpose. OCTE is working with secondary and postsecondary teachers and administrators as these courses are developed to identify areas that can be offered for dual/concurrent credit and/or advanced placement. Plans are underway to offer sessions on developing and implementing dual/concurrent enrollment opportunities at the annual summer conference.
One of the avenues for exploring these opportunities is through the Postsecondary Vice-President’s Cabinet and the Secondary CTE Director’s Cabinet. These two cabinets were implemented by OCTE during the 2006-2007 school year and offer a forum to discuss new and innovative ideas for collaboration between secondary and postsecondary education. Discussions are beginning on developing online dual-credit and advanced-placement technical courses (APT).
Statewide articulation agreements are being explored for Tech Prep consortia in South Dakota.
The state’s two-year technical institutes have developed Flex Factor, a Web-based program that makes it easy for students to figure out how many technical institution credits will transfer to one of the state’s four-year public universities. When a student selects one of the institutes, the programs associated with that institute are populated. The student may then choose a program, which will show him/her the four-year state universities that offer a related degree and provide the total number of credits that will transfer.
Career Guidance & Advisement
In support of the Governor’s 2010 Education Initiative, in 2006, South Dakota implemented the South Dakota School Counseling Program Model, based on the ASCA National Model. The South Dakota Comprehensive Counseling Model enables school districts to:
- Develop a vision of what students should know and be able to do as a result of participating in a standards-based program
- Use results of data and program analysis to develop and implement activities, strategies and services
- Demonstrate the impact of school counseling programs on student achievement and success
OCTE implemented the “Teachers as Advisors” program, a classroom-guidance delivery system in which middle school and high school students are divided into small groups, each facilitated by a teacher. Students remain with their groups throughout high school and receive support from their advisors regularly on academic, personal/social and career development topics. A scope and sequence of lesson plans was developed based on the three key concepts of the National Career Development guidelines: academic development, career development and personal and social development.
My Life is an online comprehensive career guidance program. This guidance program provides career-assessment tools, ACT Test Prep, student personal learning plans and career information provided by multimedia interviews with people in every occupation.
As part of the state’s high school reform efforts, all students will be required to have a personal learning plan (PLP) that is developed by the students, their parents, teachers and career-guidance personnel. The PLP provides a road map for students to follow throughout high school and into postsecondary education and employment.
South Dakota provides each high school student access to Career cluster camps, which give them a chance to learn about careers by offering opportunities to explore and experience various industry careers. Career cluster camps are daylong events at which students hear from a variety of professionals who discuss what they do and how they entered into their professions. Students also have a chance to experience many hands-on activities throughout the day.
Technical Skills Assessments
The state plans to develop end-of-course exams for CTE courses based on the core course standards validated by secondary and postsecondary teachers, teacher education programs and business and industry partners and the work done by the Career Cluster Implementation Committees. South Dakota is reviewing its options for assessment until the end-of-course exams are completed.
For postsecondary programs, OCTE will for now continue to rely on GPA to measure technical skill attainment. This will allow OCTE to follow the historical achievement of technical skills using the same measure. GPA is considered by many postsecondary institutions nationwide, including South Dakota’s, to be a valid and reliable measure of skill attainment. GPA includes a variety of assessments, including paper/pencil tests, research, demonstrations, projects and internship evaluations which include input from business and industry experts. The state is meeting with its postsecondary institutions to determine what credentials and certificates should be recognized in South Dakota and would like to develop a common strategy for encouraging the increased usage of credential and certificates.
Business & Industry Involvement
Secondary and postsecondary CTE programs in South Dakota are required to have advisory committees made up of industry representatives selected from management and labor, past or present students, parents and community members with an interest and knowledge of the occupation. The advisory committees:
- advise on short- and long-range plans
- assist with job opportunities
- evaluate facilities and program equipment
- analyze the course content
Educator Development
OCTE is focusing on professional development activities aimed at improving reading, writing and math skills. Writing to Win features continuous technical assistance to teachers implementing the system. Teaching teams within local schools receive e-mails and phone calls from the trainers and participate in several two-way videoconferencing events and other forms of support throughout the school year. Writing to Win is offered at least once annually either through Educational Service Agencies (ESA) personnel or Writing to Win trainers.
Integrating math in the CTE classroom is the second focus of professional development. The math integration training is patterned on the research conducted by the National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education. A math specialist from the Southern Region Education Board/High Schools That Work works with teachers who have successfully integrated math and CTE programs to train CTE and math teachers to work together to reinforce the math naturally taught in CTE classrooms. To date, two workshops have been offered. The plan is to continue to have at least one workshop each year.
Based on input from local secondary CTE directors during 2008 meetings, OCTE will consolidate and publish the professional-development calendar of the state’s seven ESAs. Each ESA employs education specialists whose expertise covers many academic areas, including the following:
- 6 + 1 Writing Instruction
- Differentiated Instruction
- Instructional Coaching
- Best Instructional Practices
- Step Up to Writing
- Brain-based Classroom
- eMetric
- On Target: Strategies to Build Student Vocabularies
- Webquest
- Integrating Technology in Teaching
Educators in the South Dakota Education Service Agencies service area now have the ability to register for and track professional development sessions online.
Coming soon!
This state profile was developed by the Association of Career and Technical Education with the assistance of the Meeder Consulting Group, LLC. If you need further information or more specific details, please contact ACTE. Customized reports can be developed on specific topics or entities.
Last Updated: May 26, 2009