Effective early learning environments provide the foundation for young learners. Early childhood classroom environments must promote multiple and varied opportunities for young learners to develop and enhance their knowledge, skills, dispositions, and feelings. Information, website links, and resources are provided below to support developmentally appropriate activities for learning content through a curriculum supported by a classroom rich in language and literacy experiences for early learners. This page provides links to all the early learning standards.
South Carolina’s Early Learning Standards (referred to as SC-ELS), serves as the shared vision for the education of South Carolina’s children, and answers the question “What foundational skills do children need to experience success in school?” By providing this common set of Goals and Developmental Indicators for children from birth through kindergarten entry, the hope is that family members, educators, administrators, and policy makers together can do the best job possible to provide experiences that help children be well prepared for success in school and life.
The South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards for English Language Arts (ELA) 2023 are the result of a process designed to identify, evaluate, synthesize, and create the most high-quality, rigorous standards for South Carolina’s students. The standards are designed to ensure that South Carolina students are prepared to enter and succeed in economically viable career opportunities or postsecondary education and ensuing careers.
South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards for Mathematics was written in response to Act 200, ratified on June 6, 2014, which required the South Carolina Department of Education to facilitate the process of developing new, high-quality, college- and career-ready standards for English Language Arts and mathematics. The mathematics standards development process was designed to develop clear, rigorous, and coherent standards for mathematics that will prepare students for success in their intended career paths that will either lead directly to the workforce or further education in post-secondary institutions.
Science is a way of understanding the physical universe using observation and experimentation to explain natural phenomena. Science also refers to an organized body of knowledge that includes core ideas to the disciplines and common themes that bridge the disciplines. This document, South Carolina Academic Standards and Performance Indicators for Science, contains the academic standards in science for the state’s students in kindergarten through grade twelve.
The South Carolina Social Studies College- and Career-Ready Standards contain the revised academic standards in social studies for South Carolina students from kindergarten through grade 12. The social studies standards development process was designed to develop clear, rigorous, and coherent standards that will prepare students for success in their intended career paths, either directly to the workforce or furthering their education in post-secondary institutions. In addition, the social studies standards were created to prepare students for success as engaged citizens. The standards writing team began the development process by reviewing a variety of resources and conceptualizing what students who graduate from South Carolina’s public education system should demonstrate and understand. The Profile of the South Carolina Graduate was the compass that guided the revision. The draft of South Carolina Social Studies College- and Career-Ready Standards were posted online via the South Carolina Department of Education’s website for public review on December 5, 2017. Feedback gleaned from public review was used to guide the revision process.
Ready, Set - Kindergarten Brochures
The SCDE OELL partnered with the Carolina Family Engagement Center (CFEC) to create a set of six brochures. The CFEC collaborate with other state agencies on projects and technical assistance opportunities that focus on supporting on underserved families and their students. The CFEC is housed within the SC School Improvement Council (SC-SIC) at the University of South Carolina College of Education. The brochures provide families a resource with a guide on each of the six domains that align with the SC-ELS standards: Cognitive, Health and Physical, Approaches to Play and Learning, Language Development, Math Development, and Social and Emotional Learning domains. This tool helps families support their early learner with school readiness. The SCDE OELL provided funding for the printing of these documents and will support the distribution of the paper copies of the tool.
