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tion, computer and technology sciences, or one of many other areas branched under the 16 Career Clusters.
• We were able to meet some of the student leaders of SD Career & Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs) this week as they had a training and Shadow Day at the Capitol. These terrific students from programs across the state remind us of the potential of CTE and our goal must be to reach even more students through these outstanding programs.   I am inspired by the young men and women that I have met in these programs like FFA and FCCLA.  These are such valuable programs and the methods they utilize to teach students are very effective.  Classroom instruction, research and writing, projects, and leadership skills prepare them to be future leaders.   
• This week there was a special focus on higher education as the Board of Regents provided information to the Joint Appropriations Committee and talked to many other legislators throughout the Capitol. The goal of the Board of Regents is to keep higher education affordable and accessible to all SD citizens.
• We must improve our efforts.  Nothing is more important to our state's economic development than educating our students and preparing them for the future.  Economic development should follow a scope which extends from preschool, to k-12, to higher education and post graduate programs. And it doesn't stop when the diplomas are awarded.  Workforce Development also means the flexibility to respond to the training needs of our state's current employees. 
• Providing affordable and accessible education is a benefit to SD students and their families and ensures our state's economic health in the decades to come. We are falling short. Simply put, the state's share of funding higher education has decreased and the costs have been escalating for our college students.
• We can be proud of the fact that SD has one of the highest rates of high school graduates going on to some form of higher education.  However, we still need to be concerned regarding the number of students requiring remedial coursework. Educators at all levels agree that we have a need to work together to reduce the need of remediation and it looks like the trend is already moving in the right direction.  According to Dr. Jack Warner, Executive Director of the SD Board of Regents, SD is the only state that has experienced a drop in the number of students who needed to take remedial classes and this is a result of the requirements for the Opportunity Scholarship which provides an incentive for students to take tougher classes. "The best single indicator of college success is not an ACT score or a Grade Point Average, it is the strength of the curriculum the student has taken in high school." He also believes that the implementation of Common Core will improve our students'

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