The units of credit required for high school graduation must include the following:

1. (1) Four units or more of language arts that must include the following:

   1. (a) One unit of writing;
   2. (b) One-half unit of speech or debate; and
   3. (c) One unit of literature that must include one-half unit of American literature;

2. (2) Three units or more of social studies that must include the following:

   1. (a) One unit of U.S. history; and
   2. (b) One-half unit of U.S. government;
3. (3) Three units or more of mathematics that must include one unit of algebra I;
4. (4) Three units or more of science that must include one unit of biology;

5. (5) One unit or more in any combination of the following:

   1. (a) Approved career and technical education courses;
   2. (b) A capstone experience; and
   3. (c) World languages;
6. (6) One-half unit of personal finance or economics;
7. (7) One unit of fine arts;
8. (8) One-half unit of physical education;
9. (9) One-half unit of health or health integration; and

10. (10) Five and one-half units of electives.

    A state-approved advanced computer science course may be substituted for one unit of science, but may not be substituted for biology.

    Within the coursework outlined above, a student may earn one or more advanced endorsement, but is not required to do so. A student may earn one or more of the following advanced endorsements: advanced, advanced career, and advanced honors. Substitutions for laboratory science, using a state-approved computer science course, do not apply to the advanced and advanced honors endorsements.

    Students may be granted up to one credit in fine arts for participation in extracurricular activities. A maximum of one-fourth credit may be granted for each extracurricular activity each school year. In order to grant credit, a district must document the alignment of the activity with fine arts content standards as approved by the South Dakota Board of Education.

    Academic core content credit may be earned by completing an approved career and technical education course. Approval to offer credit must be obtained through an application process with the Department of Education. The application must include:

11. (1) Course syllabus;
12. (2) Standards based curriculum;
13. (3) Teacher certification;
14. (4) Assessment of standards by methods including end-of-course exams, authentic assessment, project-based learning or rubrics.

Source: 10 SDR 111, effective April 24, 1984; 11 SDR 96, 11 SDR 112, effective July 1, 1985; 16 SDR 214, effective June 12, 1990; 23 SDR 31, effective September 8, 1996; 27 SDR 75, adopted January 17, 2001; 29 SDR 140, adopted April 1, 2003; 31 SDR 129, adopted March 2, 2005, effective July 1, 2009; transferred from § 24:03:06:06.01, 31 SDR 178, adopted May 4, 2005, effective July 1, 2005; 33 SDR 55, adopted September 11, 2006, effective September 1, 2007; 33 SDR 55, adopted September 11, 2006, effective September 1, 2009; 36 SDR 96, effective December 8, 2009; 45 SDR 35, effective September 19, 2018.

General Authority: SDCL 13-1-12.1 , 13-3-47.

Law Implemented: SDCL 13-3-1.4 , 13-33-1 , 13-33-19.

Prior versions effective: 2009-12-08.