Secretary's Column
By Dr. Rick Melmer
Department of Education

A view from the top

South Dakota prides itself on our top-flight public education system. There are many reasons for this feeling – reasons that include strong families, dedicated educators and reasonable teacher-student ratios. Another key reason is that our state is a national leader in using technology in our classrooms.

Recently, Education Week published a report on each state’s implementation of technology in the public schools. You have probably had a chance to review the report.  The news was outstanding: South Dakota was one of three states that earned an “A” for our technology initiatives.

Why was our state rated so high?  There were a number of reasons, but I wanted to highlight a couple that will have an impact for many years to come.

Classroom Connections

Our Classroom Connections laptop initiative is starting to hit the radar screen of educational agencies around the country. It is not unusual for me to get phone calls or inquiries about the initiative – all wanting to know the details of our 1-to-1 program. 

This fall, nearly 25 percent of our public high school students will be equipped with a computer to use throughout the school year. I have had the good fortune to visit many of the schools that are participating in the Classroom Connections program. I continue to believe that this initiative will change how classroom instruction occurs in our high schools. Until every teacher can depend on every student having access to technology all of the time, it will be difficult to infuse the use of technology into our high school classrooms.

Virtual High School

The South Dakota Virtual High School was unveiled in March. Plans are underway to have high school students taking courses through the Virtual High School by fall of 2007.  We anticipate that two groups of students will benefit from the Virtual High School. Those groups will include students who have not adapted to our traditional high schools and are in need of alternative instruction. The second group will be our students who want more, or different, courses than are offered in their respective high schools. We believe that the requests for virtual courses will be modest at first with more interest developing over time.

Statewide Connections

South Dakota is well connected – in more ways than one. Even though it has been a movement that has not captured any significant national attention, we are the envy of many states in our nation. Schools in our state have access to a sophisticated student management system, a state e-mail program that links all of us together, a Guidance Central program that assists as we prepare our high school students for the future, and a distance learning program that provides courses to the smallest and most sparse districts in our state.

We sometimes tend to focus on what we do not have, instead of the benefits that we enjoy. South Dakota has set a technology standard that other states are trying to emulate.  Our students are the true winners!