Journalism

The South Dakota Department of Education released the following News Alert on August 27, 2027

Journalism credit and the Opportunity Scholarship  

Last school year, a small number of South Dakota graduating seniors may have experienced an unexpected issue with the South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship. Specifically, because their high school journalism course was not counted as an English-Language Arts (ELA) credit, they became ineligible for the scholarship. Prior to 2024, students were able to use journalism as an ELA credit which, along with other credits, qualified them for the scholarship. 

It is in no one’s interest—not the students, not the Board of Regents (BOR), not the Department of Education (DOE), not K-12 school districts—to have students ineligible for the Opportunity Scholarship because journalism is not counted as an ELA credit, even though it involves a great deal of student writing, editing, and research. Thus, DOE will now move the journalism course (Journalism 11101) out of Other and into ELA-Elective, as part of our Common Course Code process. This will allow students who take Journalism 11101 to attain an Advanced Honors Endorsement for their diploma, which is required to be considered for eligibility for the Opportunity Scholarship. This will eliminate the need for school districts to request waivers for the course.  As a result, there is no need for you to request an administrative rule waiver now or going forward.

Should you have any concerns or questions, feel free to contact us. For questions about waivers, contact Kathy Reidy and for questions about the change related to Common Course Code, contact Vera Van Winkle. For questions about the SD Opportunity Scholarship, contact Kerri Richards at the Board of Regents.