PIERRE, S.D. (MITCHELLNOW) When No Child Left Behind became the law of the land in 2002 the subjects of reading and math were tested for student proficiency and the educational system’s accountability. That meant schools focused on reading and math (later science, when that subject was added to the testing regimen) to the exclusion of other subjects. That has created a generation of citizens illiterate in civics and ill equipped to exercise their rights and responsibilities under our democratic form of government.
South Dakota Secretary of Education Joe Graves says that was a mistake. Without students educated in Civics, from elementary levels on up, the United States will lose its ability to function as a democracy. To remedy that situation, the SD Department of Education is preparing curriculum materials that schools may have for free to boost Civics literacy and proficiency. The SD Department of Education recently held a Civics Summit in Sioux Falls with over 400 teachers in attendance for the same purpose of promoting improved Civics education in South Dakota schools.