South Dakota administrative rule requires all students in grades 9 through 12 to have a Personal Learning Plan (PLP), and the coursework a student completes for the diploma must align with it. The state defines the plan as one based on a student's skills and interests that identifies the specific coursework the student needs to reach academic and career goals. Done well, the PLP connects the classes a student takes to the future that student wants.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

The rule ties the plan to a student's skills and interests, but many students have not yet seen enough options to know what those interests point toward. When that happens, the PLP can shrink to a list of courses that meets the minimum of 22 units of credit and little else. The decision about whether to pursue an advanced endorsement is hard to make well without some picture of what comes after graduation.

What students tell us

Across the 13th Year™ network, students are most open early, and their options narrow as graduation gets closer:

  • 32%of 9th graders are weighing more than one path after high school. By 12th grade, 16% are.
  • 53%of 9th graders are interested in more than one career field, compared with 33% of seniors.
  • 11%of 9th graders say they are not sure yet what comes next. Only 2% of seniors say so.
  • 23%of students planning on college are also considering another path, such as the skilled trades, the military, work or a business of their own.

For planning, that means the most valuable exploration happens in the first years of high school, while students are still open to what they find.

Figures come from more than 3,800 responses students submitted at 13th Year™ kiosks and school links across the 13th Year™ network in 2026, not only South Dakota schools. Students could choose more than one answer, and some responded more than once.

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in South Dakota

South Dakota's High School Dual Credit (HSDC) Program lets high school juniors and seniors take college courses at a reduced tuition rate. Under SDCL 13-28-37.1, the Board of Regents sets a high school dual credit tuition rate equal to forty-three percent of the undergraduate tuition rate, the cost is shared between the student and the state, and a school district may pay any portion of the student's share.

Because students pay part of the cost of each credit, those who explore careers and majors early can choose HSDC courses that count toward a clear goal, and short daily exploration (for example on a 13th Year™ kiosk) helps them get there.

Official program information: South Dakota Board of Regents, with the South Dakota Department of Education →

What students need before the planning meeting

The most productive planning conversations happen when a student walks in with something to talk about: a career they read about, a program that surprised them, a question about the military or an apprenticeship. That kind of curiosity comes from exposure, and exposure works best when it is frequent, self-directed and part of the school day.

Practical ways to build exploration into the year

  • Explore before the plan is written. Give students time to look at colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers before they sit down to build or update the PLP, so the plan reflects real interests.
  • Connect exploration to the advanced endorsements. South Dakota students may earn one or more of the Advanced, Advanced Career and Advanced Honors endorsements. A student who has explored options can choose coursework with a purpose.
  • Build on the tools already in place. Districts have local control over what a PLP looks like, and students may complete one on SDMyLife, the state's free online career development program for grades 6 through 12. Hallway exploration can feed what students record there.
  • Make exploration self-serve. Let students explore on their own time, so counselor time goes to the conversations that need it.

Where the Student Pathway System™ goes

13th Year™ places an interactive college and career kiosk in a school's hallway, a modern guidance resource students use before, during and after school. Students who explore on their own time arrive at PLP conversations with interests and questions already in hand. It supports, and does not replace, South Dakota's personal learning plan process and school counselors.

For administrators, the questions are usually privacy and workload. The 13th Year™ platform is FERPA aligned and designed with student privacy considerations in mind. It does not access the high school's student information system, and no student data is sold. Kiosks come at no cost to the school, and 13th Year™ delivers, installs and supports every kiosk, so it is built to support your counselors, not burden them.

See how 13th Year™ supports South Dakota high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.