Best Elementary Schools in South Dakota

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Find the best South Dakota elementary schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish South Dakota test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the South Dakota Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 17, 2024.

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School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2023)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 201)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2024)	Average Standard Score (2023)	Rank (2023)	Rank Change from 2023	SchoolDigger Rating (2024)
466993000644	51	Piedmont Valley Elementary - 05	Public	K-4	16159 2nd St	Piedmont	57769	Meade County	Meade School District 46-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 787-5295	523	37	14	22.8%	441 (84.3%)	4 (0.8%)	31 (5.9%)	5 (1.0%)	15 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (5.2%)	$9,020			$801			$8,219	68.9	70.1	61	10
460005201400	52	Tea Area Venture Elementary - 06	Public	K-5	101 E 7th St	Tea	57064	Lincoln County	Tea Area School District 41-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 498-2700	389	25	15.2	11.1%	318 (81.7%)	11 (2.8%)	20 (5.1%)	4 (1.0%)	7 (1.8%)	1 (0.3%)	28 (7.2%)	$9,032			$536			$8,496	68.5	79.7	27	25
460468000035	53	Baltic Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	1 Bulldog Ave	Baltic	57003	Minnehaha County	Baltic School District 49-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 529-5464	317	20	16.1	13.9%	276 (87.1%)	1 (0.3%)	16 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (3.8%)	$9,140			$658			$8,482	68	62.4	80	27
460636000047	54	Beresford Elementary - 02	Public	K-5	209 S 4th St	Beresford	57004	Union County	Beresford School District 61-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 763-5012	307	23	13.1	25.4%	265 (86.3%)	2 (0.7%)	23 (7.5%)	1 (0.3%)	9 (2.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (2.3%)	$11,035			$726			$10,309	67.3			(n/a)
465175000820	55	Northwestern Elementary - 04	Public	PK, KG-5	221 3rd St	Mellette	57461	Spink County	Northwestern Area School District 56-7	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 887-3467	119	9	13.7	10.1%	113 (95.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.5%)	$12,501			$1,447			$11,054	67.1	72.1	54	1
463080001111	56	Hamlin Elementary - 09	Public	PK, KG-5	44577 188th St	Hayti	57241	Hamlin County	Hamlin School District 28-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 783-3631	451	29	15.3	35.3%	434 (96.2%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (3.1%)	1 (0.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (0.4%)	$9,895			$828			$9,067	67.1	72.3	53	3
466627001300	57	RF Pettigrew Elementary - 17	Public	PK, KG-5	7900 W 53rd St	Sioux Falls	57106	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 362-3560	952	51	18.6	23.3%	664 (69.7%)	81 (8.5%)	92 (9.7%)	20 (2.1%)	14 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	81 (8.5%)	$10,088			$1,213			$8,875	67	63.9	75	18
464839000441	58	Longfellow Elementary - 05	Public	K-5	110 N Mentzer St	Mitchell	57301	Davison County	Mitchell School District 17-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 995-3092	318	31	10.3	44.3%	230 (72.3%)	1 (0.3%)	34 (10.7%)	0 (0.0%)	30 (9.4%)	0 (0.0%)	23 (7.2%)	$9,976			$1,160			$8,817	66.5	66.8	68	10
460951200100	59	Burke Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	933 Lincoln St	Burke	57523	Gregory County	Burke School District 26-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 775-2246	108	9	11.6	29.6%	98 (90.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (8.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.9%)	$15,434			$1,489			$13,945	66.3	62.7	79	20
460740000061	60	Springfield Elementary - 03	Public	K-5	1008 Walnut St	Springfield	57062	Bon Homme County	Bon Homme School District 04-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 369-2282	45	4	10.4	33.3%	39 (86.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (13.3%)	$11,375			$975			$10,400	66.3			(n/a)

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for South Dakota

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for SD student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, Smarter Balanced Assessments Science test scores released by the South Dakota Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 17, 2024, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the South Dakota Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the South Dakota Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB): A Comprehensive Analysis of Its Impact on Education

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the South Dakota Department of Education.