The Huron Public School's curriculum is defined by the content standards that are approved by the South Dakota Department of Education. Standards clarify what students are expected to know and be able to do at various points in their K-12 academic career. Local adoption and implementation of state standards ensures that the education students receive is consistently strong across all of South Dakota, and that completion of high school has common meaning throughout the state.
The South Dakota Board of Education adoption the Common Core Standards on November 29, 2010.
Teachers and administrators are participating in a three year "Common Core Professional Development" series to transition from the state developed standards to the Common Core State Standards.
The underlying outcomes for this initiative are:
- Provide teachers with a hands on experience to gain a deeper understanding of the standards;
- Investigate how the Common Core standards impact teaching practices;
- Learn about the Common Core standards starting with the end in mind, how the standards can be assessed, working through curriculum planning;
- Give teachers opportunities to collaborate with other teachers from their grade levels as they understand Common Core standards;
- Emphasize standards-driven curriculum;
- Utilize Standards in Practice® theory and Understanding by Design model to gain model units of how to teach the standards that illustrate the vision;
- Connecting relevant initiatives and the 4 Rs (rigor, relevance, relationships, results).