State of Preschool
South Dakota
No Program
South Dakota currently does not offer a state-funded preschool program as defined by this report, but the state does support early childhood education in several ways. Local education agencies can use a portion of their Title I funding to support preschool programs. The Department of Social Services oversees licensing of state registered family day care programs as well as licensed child and school age care programs and administers the child care assistance program.
The South Dakota Early Learning Guidelines (ELG) are used in settings that serve children from birth to 5 years old and cover multiple domains including: health and physical development, creative arts, language and literacy, social studies, social-emotional development and approaches toward learning, mathematics, and science. Most recently, the state created a Content Standards Crosswalk to serve as a resource to support the learning environment for preschool age children transitioning into kindergarten. This crosswalk is being distributed across the state to early childhood educators with local education agencies and public/private preschool homes and/or centers. Like the Early Learning Guidelines, this work was a collaboration between the South Dakota Department of Education, Head Start Collaboration Office, and multiple stakeholders.
In 2017, the School Administrators of South Dakota (SASD) rolled out the SASD Preschool Levels of Excellence. Based on NAEYC accreditation standards, the Levels of Excellence address ten domains of program quality. Preschool programs may use the Levels of Excellence as a self-assessment tool, or to obtain a formal Level assessed by SASD.
South Dakota
Access
|
| |
| Total state pre-K enrollment | 0 |
| School districts that offer state program | NA |
| Income requirement | NA |
| Minimum hours of operation | NA |
| Operating schedule | NA |
| Special education enrollment, ages 3 and 4 | 1,645 |
| Federally funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4 | 3,265 |
| State-funded Head Start enrollment, ages 3 and 4 | 0 |
Resources
| Total state pre-K spending | $0 |
| Local match required? | NA |
| State Head Start spending | $0 |
| State spending per child enrolled | $0 |
| All reported spending per child enrolled* | $0 |
*Pre-K programs may receive additional funds from federal or local sources that are not included in this figure. †Head Start per-child spending includes funding only for 3- and 4-year-olds. ‡K–12 expenditures include capital spending as well as current operating expenditures.