Winter hung on for a long time this year, and now it seems suddenly the school year is done! I hope you had an enjoyable graduation season in your school district and that you will have a chance for some well-deserved downtime this summer.

Of course, a big part of wrapping up the school year is the statewide assessment. Thank you for everything you and your staff do to ensure testing runs smoothly. As you may have heard, the Department of Education will be issuing a Request for Proposal for delivery of the state assessments beginning with the spring 2020 administration.

In preparation for that process, we are pulling together a group of stakeholders to help us determine priorities for the next iteration of state assessments in English language arts, math and science. We have reached out to educators with expertise and interest in the testing process, aiming for a balance of broad and varied representation from across the state. We look forward to gathering their input and ideas for assessment moving forward.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, my phone line, door and inbox are open.

Thank you for everything you do for South Dakota students. Have a great summer.