Upcoming Events

For Professional Development Opportunities, visit www.southdakotapd.com.

• State Aid Study Task Force to meet
• Mitchell Tech to host Board of Education
• LifeSkills training offered
• DACS trainings offered
• Workshop addresses role of leadership in curriculum mapping
• Satellite seminar addresses school wellness policy
• Writing to Win workshop scheduled

State Aid Study Task Force to meet
The State Aid Study Task Force is scheduled to meet for the first time Sept. 6-7 at the Ramkota in Pierre . Meeting times are 6-10 p.m. on Sept. 6, and 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sept. 7.

The task force was formed in accordance with a law that charges the South Dakota Department of Education with reviewing the current K-12 education funding formula. The task force’s role is to advise the department as it conducts the review.

Mitchell Tech to host Board of Education
The South Dakota Board of Education will hold its September meeting at Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell. Dates of the meeting are Sept. 19-20. A complete agenda will be available soon at www.doe.sd.gov/secretary/board/schedule.asp.

LifeSkills training offered
The Northeast Prevention Resource Center, in collaboration with the South Dakota Coordinated School Health Program, is offering two LifeSkills trainings this fall. Trainings are slated for Sept. 26-27 in Rapid City and Dec. 1-2 in Sioux Falls .

Life Skills is a proven, highly effective, skills-based substance abuse prevention program.

For more information, visit www.humanserviceagency.org/neprc.htm and click on “Life Skills Training 2005” at the bottom of the page.

DACS trainings offered
Regional training sessions on the Dakota Assessment of Content Standards (DACS) will be offered to those new to DACS and those who have not used the system for some time. Sessions will be held the week of Oct. 10 in four locations (listed below). There will be two sessions held at each site: the first runs from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. , and the second runs from 1 to 4 p.m.

Participants will learn how to:

• Navigate through the program
• Interpret school-level reports
• Interpret teacher reports
• Examine and interpret test data to inform instruction

The workshops will be conducted in a computer lab. Participants must bring their DACS site id, staff id and password with them.

Schedule and Locations
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City EEP Building , Room 307
Oct. 11

Riggs High School , Pierre
Room 202
Oct. 12

Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown MEC Building
Room 921
Oct. 13

Mitchell Technical Institute, Mitchell
MTI Tech Center , Room 126
Oct. 14

Registration is required and must be completed online by Sept. 23 at www.southdakotapd.com/. Space is limited, so please register early.

Questions can be directed to Stephanie Weideman at (605) 773-3783 or stephanie.weideman@state.sd.us.

Workshop addresses role of leadership in curriculum mapping
The Department of Education will conduct a one-day workshop titled “Role of Building Leadership in the Curriculum Mapping Process.” The workshop is slated for Oct. 11, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. , at the Ramkota in Pierre . Dr. Susan Udelhofen will lead the session.

Designed for school administrators, the workshop will address key concepts such as:

• Overview of curriculum mapping process
• Curriculum consensus-building and decision-making
• Curriculum mapping and teach er evaluation
• Time management strategies
• Building leadership teams
• Building a curriculum mapping cabinet
• Looking at feeder patterns
• The relationship with ESAs
• Creating a map of mapping
• Staff development
• Curriculum mapping implementation plans
• One, two and three plans
• Beyond building the maps

Registration for this session is available at www.southdakotapd.com.

Satellite seminar address school wellness policy
The National Food Service Management Institute will offer a satellite seminar conference on Oct. 18 to address the new school wellness policy requirement. The two-hour session will provide school nutrition professionals and other school and community stakeholders with the latest information about school wellness policies.

The department’s Child and Adult Nutrition Services office is coordinating South Dakota ’s participation in this satellite seminar.

For information on how to participate, please contact Amy Richards at (605) 773-4718. amy.richards@state.sd.us.

Writing to Win© workshop scheduled
The department’s Office of Career and Technical Education is sponsoring Writing to Win©, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, at the Ramkota in Pierre .

Year one of the three-year system focuses on “Journal Writing for Critical Thinking” and aims to help teachers improve students’ writing, critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Dr. Warren Combs, developer of the Writing to Win© system, will lead the training.

The training will target career and technical education (CTE) teachers. It will assist them in developing strategies to increase student knowledge and application in CTE programs. Writing to Win© is currently implemented in Emery and Flandreau.

Participants are asked to bring the following resources to the workshop:

• Copy of the district/school’s writing curriculum
• Sample teacher’s textbook for content area
• Course syllabi
• Laptop computer
• Curriculum maps

College credit and renewal credit are available. For information, contact Marsha Kucker at (605) 367-7680, mkucker@edec.org or Gloria Smith-Rockhold at (605) 773-4747, gloria.smith-rockhold@state.sd.us.

Registration is available online at www.southdakotapd.com. The deadline to register is Oct. 21.