A practical guide for South Dakota educators and administrators on the state's health education standards, the social-emotional dimensions of the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings, and how to build an elementary program that serves students within South Dakota's local-control framework.
South Dakota places educational decisions squarely with local districts and communities. The state has not adopted standalone K-12 SEL standards. It has not created a state SEL framework. It has not established an SEL advisory committee or published SEL implementation guidance.
What South Dakota does have is Health Education Standards that include mental and emotional health as a core content area,[1] Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards that explicitly support “whole-child wellness” including “social-emotional and community/relational wellness,”[2] and the local control to build educational programs that match each community's values and priorities.
For South Dakota elementary schools, this means that social-emotional instruction is not mandated by a state SEL framework, but the skills that SEL programs teach are embedded in existing required standards. This guide explains where those skills live, how the OSEUS connect to social-emotional development, and how to build a program that serves students while respecting South Dakota's commitment to local decision-making.
South Dakota Health Education Standards
What the Standards Require
South Dakota's Health Education Standards, adopted in 2018, are required content standards for K-12 public schools.[1] They are based on the National Health Education Standards and organized around eight standards of practice that include significant social-emotional content. The standards' stated goal is health literacy: students who can “obtain, interpret, and understand basic health information and services and the competence to use information and services in ways that enhance health.”
Social-Emotional Content Within the Standards
Standard 1: Core Concepts
Understanding the relationship between physical, mental, emotional, and social health.
Standard 2: Analyzing Influences
Understanding how peers, family, culture, media, and other factors influence health decisions, including emotional and behavioral decisions.
Standard 4: Interpersonal Communication
Using communication skills to enhance health — directly addresses relationship skills, conflict resolution, and healthy expression of emotions.
Standard 5: Decision-Making
Using decision-making skills to enhance health — addresses responsible decision-making and problem-solving.
Standard 6: Goal Setting
Using goal-setting skills to enhance health — builds self-management competencies.
Standard 7: Self-Management
Practicing health-enhancing behaviors — includes managing emotions, coping with stress, and building healthy habits.
Standard 8: Advocacy
Advocating for personal, family, and community health — develops agency, communication skills, and social responsibility.
How These Map to CASEL
| South Dakota Health Education Standard | CASEL Competency |
|---|---|
| Understanding mental, emotional, and social health | Self-Awareness |
| Analyzing influences on health decisions | Social Awareness |
| Interpersonal communication for health | Relationship Skills |
| Decision-making for health | Responsible Decision-Making |
| Goal setting for health | Self-Management |
| Self-management of health behaviors | Self-Management |
| Health advocacy | Social Awareness + Relationship Skills |
The Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards
What the OSEUS Are
The Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards, originally introduced in 2007 and newly adopted in revised form in 2025, are K-12 content standards for teaching about the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples whose ancestral homelands include present-day South Dakota.[2][3] The OSEUS are adopted content standards, listed on the South Dakota Department of Education's content standards page alongside ELA, math, science, social studies, and other required subjects.[4]
The Whole-Child Wellness Connection
The OSEUS Innovation Configuration, developed to support teacher implementation, explicitly identifies “Whole-Child Wellness” as a component, encompassing “intellectual, physical, social-emotional, and community/relational wellness.”[2] This is significant because it means South Dakota has an adopted content standard that specifically names social-emotional wellness as part of whole-child development.
How the OSEUS Connect to Social-Emotional Learning
Connectedness and interdependence
Understanding that individuals exist within a web of relationships and responsibilities. Builds social awareness and community responsibility.
Respect and cultural understanding
Learning about diverse perspectives, histories, and cultural practices builds empathy and perspective-taking.
Community and belonging
The OSEUS emphasize engaging with communities and building relationships. These are relationship skills and social engagement competencies.
Identity affirmation
For Native American students, the OSEUS affirm cultural identity — a foundational self-awareness competency. For all students, it expands understanding of identity and diversity.
What This Means for Elementary Schools
Social-emotional instruction that connects to the OSEUS serves multiple purposes simultaneously: it builds social-emotional competencies, it addresses adopted content standards, and it honors the cultures of the tribal nations whose lands South Dakota schools occupy.
OSEUS Connections to Social-Emotional Development
Connect-edness
Social awareness
Respect
Empathy & perspective
Comm-unity
Relationship skills
Identity
Self-awareness
Whole-Child Wellness
Intellectual + Physical + Social-Emotional + Community/Relational
South Dakota's Local Control Framework
South Dakota gives districts more autonomy than most states. Here's how the responsibility splits:
State sets content standards — districts choose everything else
What the State Provides vs. What Districts Decide
The state provides:
Content standards that define expectations for student learning, reviewed every five to seven years by the Board of Education Standards.[4]
Districts decide:
Curriculum, instructional materials, scheduling, and assessment approaches. Content standards “do not mandate a specific curriculum.”
What This Means for Social-Emotional Instruction
South Dakota will not tell your district to implement an SEL program. It will not provide a state SEL framework. It will not offer SEL implementation specialists or advisory committee guidance.
It does require Health Education Standards that include mental and emotional health. It has adopted the OSEUS, which name social-emotional wellness as part of whole-child education. And it trusts each district to decide how to build programs that serve its students and reflect its community's values. The decision to implement structured social-emotional instruction is a local one, but the skills that social-emotional instruction teaches are embedded in required standards.
How to Build an Elementary Program in South Dakota
Step 1: Address Health Education Standards' Social-Emotional Content
Document how your instruction covers the mental, emotional, and social health content within the Health Education Standards at each elementary grade level.[1] A comprehensive scope and sequence delivered through weekly lessons addresses this content while building broader competencies across all five CASEL domains.
Step 2: Connect to the OSEUS Whole-Child Framework
Document how your social-emotional instruction supports the whole-child wellness that the OSEUS emphasize.[2] When teaching empathy, connect to cultural understanding. When teaching respect, extend to cultural respect. When teaching community responsibility, acknowledge the interconnectedness that the Oceti Sakowin worldview values.
Step 3: Build Through the District Process
Work through your district's curriculum adoption process. Document how your program addresses Health Education Standards, supports the OSEUS whole-child wellness framework, aligns with your district's mission and values, and will be measured for effectiveness.
Step 4: Communicate With Your Community
South Dakota communities value knowing what their schools teach. For social-emotional instruction:
- Describe the instruction in practical terms: “Students learn to manage frustration, resolve disagreements, set goals, and treat others with respect”
- Reference the Health Education Standards: “South Dakota's Health Education Standards include mental, emotional, and social health. Our program addresses these required standards”
- Share your curriculum materials openly and invite parent review
- Use language that reflects community values: personal responsibility, healthy decision-making, practical life skills, strong character
Step 5: Connect to School Safety
Social-emotional instruction supports the safe school environment every South Dakota community values.[5] Students who can regulate emotions produce fewer behavioral incidents. Students who can resolve conflicts de-escalate situations. Students who trust adults report concerns. Framing social-emotional instruction as a school safety investment aligns with priorities that have universal community support.
Step 6: Embed in MTSS
If your district uses a Multi-Tiered System of Supports, position your social-emotional instruction within it:
Tier 1
Universal instruction delivered weekly to all students, addressing health education social-emotional content.
Tier 2
Targeted small-group support for students needing additional skill practice.
Tier 3
Individualized intervention for students with significant needs, including IEP-aligned goals.
South Dakota's Context
Rural and Frontier Realities
South Dakota's population density is among the lowest in the nation. Many districts serve communities where the nearest city is hours away, teacher recruitment is an ongoing challenge, and the school is the community's primary institution. Device-free, teacher-led programs with minimal prep requirements are not just practical in these settings — they may be the only viable option. Programs requiring technology infrastructure, specialist delivery, or extensive professional development will not reach many South Dakota students.
Tribal Nations and Reservations
South Dakota is home to nine tribal reservations representing the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples. Schools serving Native American students, both on and off reservation, have a responsibility to provide instruction that is culturally responsive and connected to the OSEUS framework. Social-emotional instruction that honors tribal values of interconnectedness, community responsibility, respect for elders, and collective wellbeing aligns with both CASEL competencies and the cultural values of the communities these schools serve.
Growing Diversity
South Dakota's demographics are shifting, particularly in cities like Sioux Falls and Rapid City, where refugee resettlement and immigration have created increasingly diverse school communities. Bilingual curriculum and culturally responsive content support equitable access to social-emotional instruction for these students.
Choosing a Curriculum for South Dakota Schools
When selecting curriculum for your South Dakota elementary school, verify that the program:
Addresses the Health Education Standards' social-emotional content
Mental, emotional, and social health must be covered at every elementary grade level.
Is compatible with OSEUS integration
The program should include diverse perspectives and support culturally responsive instruction that can connect to the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings' whole-child wellness framework.
Provides grade-band differentiation
K-2 and 3-5 content should differ in complexity and approach.
Offers a full-year scope and sequence
Weekly instruction across the school year produces skill development that isolated lessons cannot.
Works in rural and frontier settings
No device requirements, minimal prep, all materials included. This is essential for many South Dakota districts.
Supports bilingual learners
South Dakota's growing multilingual population benefits from bilingual curriculum.
Connects to school safety
Social-emotional skills directly support the safe school environments South Dakota communities value.
Emphasizes practical life skills
Self-management, problem-solving, goal setting, communication, perseverance, and responsibility are skills that serve students in school, in their careers, and in their communities.
Requires minimal prep
South Dakota teachers need ready-to-use materials that work without extensive preparation or training.
What to Avoid
Assuming South Dakota students do not need social-emotional instruction
The absence of a state SEL mandate does not mean the absence of student need. South Dakota students face the same challenges as students everywhere. The health education standards acknowledge this by including mental and emotional health as required content.
Importing programs without community fit
South Dakota's communities are diverse in values, demographics, and resources. A program selected without considering community fit risks both implementation challenges and community resistance. Involve parents and community members in the selection process.
Overlooking the OSEUS connection
The Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards explicitly support whole-child wellness, including social-emotional wellness. Social-emotional instruction that connects to this framework serves multiple purposes and demonstrates alignment with adopted state standards.
Waiting for a state mandate
South Dakota's local control framework means that social-emotional instruction is a district decision. Waiting for the state to mandate it means waiting indefinitely while students miss the instruction they need. The health education standards provide the required foundation. The OSEUS provide the cultural connection. The decision to build on them is local.
Final Thoughts
South Dakota trusts its districts and communities to make educational decisions that serve their students. The state provides content standards, including health education standards that address mental, emotional, and social health. It has adopted the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards, which explicitly include social-emotional wellness as part of whole-child development. And it leaves the curriculum and implementation choices to each district.
For South Dakota elementary schools, the path forward is local: choose a program that addresses the health education standards' social-emotional content, connects to the OSEUS whole-child wellness framework, works within your community's values and resources, and delivers instruction consistently enough to build the practical skills your students need.
South Dakota does not tell schools to teach SEL. It tells schools to educate the whole child. The skills are the same. The decision is yours.
References
- South Dakota Department of Education. (2018). South Dakota Health Education Standards. https://doe.sd.gov/contentstandards/documents/SD-HealthEducationStandards-18.pdf
- Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards Innovation Configuration. (n.d.). ERIC. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED660622.pdf
- Knowledge Alliance. (2023). How the Region 11 Comprehensive Center and McREL are helping South Dakota teachers integrate the OSEUS. https://www.knowledgeall.net/in-conversation-how-the-region-11-comprehensive-center-and-mcrel-are-helping-south-dakota-teachers-integrate-the-oceti-sakowin-essential-understandings-and-standards-oseus-in-their-classrooms/
- South Dakota Department of Education. (n.d.). South Dakota content standards. https://doe.sd.gov/contentstandards/
- South Dakota Department of Education. (2025). Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards (Adopted 2025). https://doe.sd.gov/ContentStandards/documents/25-OSEUs.pdf
- SDPB. (n.d.). Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings: Instructional resources. https://www.sdpb.org/children-and-education/2021-02-09/oceti-sakowin-essential-understandings-instructional-resources
- Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405-432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x
- Cipriano, C., Strambler, M. J., Naples, L. H., et al. (2023). The state of evidence for social and emotional learning: A contemporary meta-analysis of universal school-based SEL interventions. Child Development, 94(5), 1181-1204. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13968
Practical Life Skills for South Dakota Students
Be The Buffalo teaches students to manage emotions, set goals, resolve conflicts, and take responsibility for their choices through 40 weeks of K-5 curriculum. Addresses Health Education Standards' mental and emotional health content.
Diverse characters and culturally responsive content compatible with OSEUS integration. Interactive projector activities, original songs, stories, printable worksheets, and teacher guides. Bilingual English and Spanish. No student accounts. No devices. No prep. Built for rural and frontier realities.
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