Governor Larry Rhoden is following Kristi Noem’s example of taking credit for curriculum standards. His press release Tuesday noting the Board of Education’s approval of ideologically-tinged K-12 math standards, over the objection of many practicing math teachers, bears the headline “Gov. Rhoden Replaces Common Core with Common Sense Math.”
Contrary to the imperial practice of Rhoden’s predecessor, the Governor is not supposed to have any direct role in drafting or approving curriculum standards. The Governor’s toadies in the Department of Education certainly influence them, and political appointees on the Board of Education Standards approve them, but ideally, content standards are drafted, reviewed, and finalized by panels of interested practicing teachers. The sidelining of teachers in revising curriculum standards alarms Sandra Waltman of the South Dakota Education Association:
“A major concern we have is the narrowing of educator involvement in the standards development process,” Waltman said. “When we look to fewer classroom teachers to be involved you miss important grade-level and content connections. When you’re not involving more teachers, you might miss things and then you start to see those alignment issues some are raising concerns about” [C.J. Keene, “New State Math Standards Leave Teachers Holding Breath for Changes,” SDPB, 2026.05.05].
But expertise and good teaching are less important in Pierre than giving Larry Rhoden a campaign slogan to ride to his primary defeat.
Its common cents and cents are now extinct.
Rhoden and Hansen are tied for last place at Polymarket.
I have to say I find some of the “new math” somewhat tedious. I haven’t delved deeply into the subject, though. I can still recall the flash cards and the times tables and all the memorization of formulas that made math boring. It was never connected much to the real world. It was only in word problems that it started becoming interesting. And I started getting interested in math when I realized it could be used for batting averages and other sports stuff.
Still, I think I realize that the new math at the beginning grades leads to a better way of approaching math at higher grades, and results in fewer students just giving up on math when they hit algebra. I also realize that technology has made memorization of times tables more or less like the buggy whip. Still, I remember a college professor saying that math is learned at the tip of a pencil.
In reality students learn things differently. There’s probably a place for both approaches.
It seems a shame when a candidate for office enters an area of government of which he, apparently, knows little and criticizes only for political purposes. How long has been since the current governor has spent an entire day with a professional teacher in one of our public schools? To spend some time with that teacher, others teachers in the lunchroom and the students just might open his eyes about our challenges since he was a student.
One area for the State Board of Education and the Department of Education is to set policies and standards for content and curriculum in classrooms and requirements for certification of and licensing of our state’s teachers. To complete these tasks, it only seems logical to include in all discussions and conclusions the direct involvement of regional representatives of our state’s current active professional classroom teachers on those boards. We have the opportunity of vast knowledge and resources; however, currently the state’s leadership chooses to ignore this valuable resource! Let us move into the new century and leave the past practices of the 20th century behind.