SD School Library Standards

So far the South Dakota State Library has offered two sessions of the online course titled An Introduction to the 2019 School Library Standards. 48 school librarians, paraprofessionals, and teachers have earned college credit or CEU hours by taking part in this course.

The SD State Library will offer another session in March 2020. Registration for this session opens in early February 2019 and will be communicated via the SD School Library Listserv.

I'll spend three more posts highlighting of each strand of the 2019 School Library Standards, but for this one, here's a bit of background info. For more depth and breadth, you'll have to take the course! 😉


Content standards provide educators a roadmap for what their students should know and be able to do.

Standards are not curriculum.

The South Dakota School Library Standards are designed to be age-appropriate guides for successful student learning - learning that should be differentiated, collaborative, and integrated across all content areas.

Now, just the word "content standards," often shortened to "standards," can be confusing.

Here's why: Standards reflect both the entire document or set of standards AND one portion of the entire document. 

Each content area has its own set/document of content standards and within that set live the actual standards that students should know and be able to do. Three standards live within the SD School Library Content Standards (+3 Strands and + 18 Objectives). Confused yet?

The SD School Library Content Standards document is organized/displayed in two ways:

• by grade span vertical progression (KG-2nd, 3rd-5th, 6th-8th, 9th-12th) 
• by K-12 vertical progression

There is a hierarchy to the library standards and look kind of like this:

STRAND

STANDARD

OBJECTIVES

There are three overarching STRANDS of proficiency that broadly articulate the related standards and objectives.

They are:

• Textual Literacy (TL): Reading & Engagement
• Information Literacy (IL): Inquiry & Research
• Civic & Ethical Literacy (CE): Rights & Responsibilities

Under each strand sits one STANDARD. Again, a standard is a statement of what students should know and be able to do.

Then under each standard you'll find six OBJECTIVES. Objectives are also known as outcomes. They are age-appropriate, even more specific expectations for what students should know and be able to do.


Content standards documents are written in a technical writing format. The SD School Library Content Standards have been coded for better understanding; they cross-reference the Grade, the Content Area, the Strand, the Standard, and the Objective.

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