South Dakota Administrative Rules
Title 24 - EDUCATION
Article 24:43 - Accreditation and School Improvement
Chapter 24:43:11 - Curriculum
Section 24:43:11:02 - General requirements for high school graduation

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

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

(3) Three units or more of mathematics that must include one unit of algebra I;

(4) Three units or more of science that must include one unit of biology;

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

(6) One-half unit of personal finance or economics;

(7) One unit of fine arts;

(8) One-half unit of physical education; and

(9) One-half unit of health or health integration; and

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

A state-approved advanced computer science course may be substituted in lieu 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. Students 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 Standards.

(1) Course syllabus;

(2) Standards based curriculum;

(3) Teacher certification;

(4) Assessment of standards by methods including end-of-course exams, authentic assessment, project-based learning or rubrics.