Education Online 2012 - South Dakota Department of Education Newsletter

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Deputy Secretary Mary Stadick Smith gives a brief synopsis of Governor Dennis Daugaard’s proposals for education funding in FY14.

South Dakota represented on Nutrition Association’s National Board of Directors
South Dakota now has representation on the School Nutrition Association’s National Board of Directors. Brandon Valley School District Food Services Director Gay Anderson was voted in as the board’s Education Committee Chair during SNA’s 2012 elections. For more information, visit the School Nutrition Association website.

Rapid City teacher presented with $25,000 Milken Award
Congratulations to Alayna Siemonsma! The fourth-grade teacher and literacy leader at South Park Elementary School in Rapid City received the surprise of a lifetime last month when she was presented with a Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award. The award, which comes with an unrestricted cash prize of $25,000, was bestowed upon her during a school assembly.
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Governor’s budget includes funding aimed at ensuring college, career readiness
Gov. Dennis Daugaard presented his proposed budget for FY 14 earlier this week. Many of the education-related items in the budget support the Department of Education’s efforts to focus on student outcomes, and the overall aspiration that students are on track to graduate high school college, career and life ready.

NAEP releases new reading vocabulary results
For the first time ever, the National Assessment of Educational Progress issued a separate report on student vocabulary. The report, which was released earlier this month, analyzed results from the 2009 and 2011 NAEP reading test.

Applications for Davis-Bahcall Scholarship, summer science program now open
High school seniors and college freshmen can now apply for Davis-Bahcall Scholarships and the chance to study next summer at the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory in Lead, Princeton University in New Jersey, and overseas if funding allows.

U.S. Department of Ed releases Civil Rights, Educational Equity report
In November, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights released a report describing OCR’s progress and activity over the last four years on civil rights enforcement and educational equity.

Winners of EPSCoR funds announced
Twelve science, technology, engineering and math projects will be funded this year in South Dakota as part of a new round of EPSCoR grants.

Clean diesel grant applications due this month
Applications for the fifth round of funding under the South Dakota Clean Diesel Grant Program are due to the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources by Dec. 21.

Planning a visit to Pierre? Consider the Cultural Heritage Center
Bringing a group of students to Pierre to see the State Legislature in action? Make a stop at the museum in the Cultural Heritage Center a part of your day.

Teacher part of Smarter Balanced writing team
South Dakota teacher Meghan Wounded Head, of Hamlin School District, provided representation on one of the task writing teams for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.