What North Dakota Teachers Teach While NDSA Runs

Quick answer: The test itself has a new name. What North Dakota used to call the NDSA became the ND A+ Summative in spring 2025, and it still runs ELA and math in grades three through eight and in grade ten. During those weeks, teach SEL work that finishes in a single sitting.

Is it still called the NDSA?

Not officially. The North Dakota State Assessment was renamed and replaced by the ND A+ Summative starting in spring 2025, and the Department of Public Instruction uses that name in its own materials. Most staff rooms still say NDSA, and most calendars printed last August still say it too, so expect both names in the same email thread for a while yet.

Whatever it is called, it takes the same days out of your week, and an SEL or advisory block is the first thing suspended when a testing schedule needs rooms. Conflict, Escalation & Guilt – Cain & Abel · Glasl · NVC | Ethics & Religious Studies (Grades 11-12) is built for exactly that gap: a single lesson on conflict, escalation and guilt for grades eleven and twelve, complete in one sitting. Print it the night before and it survives any timetable.

What SEL work actually fits a fragmented spring?

Pick topics students can enter cold. Conflict and repair, consumption and responsibility, the difference between guilt and shame: each of these can be opened, discussed and written about in forty minutes without a prior lesson. Avoid anything cumulative, because the students who miss Tuesday are exactly the students who most need the thread to be unbroken.

For middle grades, Consumer Ethics: Fast Fashion & Sustainability – Ethics Unit: Worksheets, Projects & Slides (Grades 6–9) does this with fast fashion and sustainability, which gets a room talking in about ninety seconds and produces written positions you can mark. Grades six through nine handle the material comfortably. Keep the projects short enough that a student returning from a make-up session can join the next task rather than the next chapter.

How do the Native American Essential Understandings fit into this?

North Dakota requires the Native American Essential Understandings to be integrated across the K-12 curriculum, which means they belong in an SEL or ethics block as much as anywhere. Integration is the operative word: this is not a separate November lesson but a set of perspectives that shapes which sources you use and which voices are in the room when a class discusses responsibility.

Published units give you the discussion structure; the North Dakota content and the local partnership are yours to supply. Write one line into each unit plan naming where that happens, and the question from an administrator answers itself. State-specific material is filed by grade on North Dakota Teaching Resources & Worksheets (Grades K–12), and the wider regional collection sits on the Great Plains Teaching Resources (IA, KS, NE, ND, SD). Neither replaces the reading you do locally.

How do I get a defensible grade out of SEL work?

Mark the artifact, not the child. A written position, a recorded discussion role, a completed reflection sheet: these can be scored against the North Dakota Content Standards you already use for writing and speaking, which keeps the grade about demonstrable work. Nobody should be graded on how emotionally forthcoming they were in a class discussion, and a rubric that avoids it is easier to defend at a conference.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum: Build Connections, Foster Growth is the option when SEL is a course rather than a corner of one, with a full curriculum to run across a year instead of a stack of separate files. Choose it if you own the block; choose single lessons if you are borrowing time from someone else's. Either way, the testing weeks stop dictating what your students work on.

Frequently asked questions

Are these tied to NDDPI or to the ND A+ Summative?

No. They are independent classroom resources, not affiliated with or endorsed by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, the state assessment or any exam authority. The link between a task and the North Dakota Content Standards is one you make and record.

Do the units cover the Native American Essential Understandings?

They do not. What a published unit can give you is the lesson structure and the discussion frame; the Understandings have to be integrated with North Dakota material, local knowledge and, where possible, local partnership. Treating a purchased file as compliance with that requirement would be a mistake.

Can these run in a study hall or a covered class?

The single lessons can, since the instructions sit on the student page and the discussion questions are printed. Full curriculum files assume a teacher who knows the group. Everything is an instant download, so check the grade band and previews before buying; the store's refund policy covers order questions.

Related reading

• Mapping SEL Units to the Content Standards in North Dakota
• Running a SEL Unit in a Long Block in North Dakota
• North Dakota Teaching Resources & Worksheets (Grades K–12)