Best High Schools in South Dakota

A teacher and two students give a thumbs-up in a classroom.

Find the best South Dakota high 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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2023)							Ranking (2024 vs 2023)
ID	Rank (of 141)	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)
466627000600	11	Lincoln High School - 02	Public	9-12	2900 S Cliff Ave	Sioux Falls	57105	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 367-7990	1,883	116	16.2	22.4%	1,310 (69.6%)	144 (7.6%)	205 (10.9%)	44 (2.3%)	81 (4.3%)	4 (0.2%)	95 (5.0%)	$10,760			$1,084			$9,676	87.3	83.6	14	3
461230000130	12	Chester High School - 01	Public	9-12	102 2nd Ave	Chester	57016	Lake County	Chester Area School District 39-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 489-2411	116	10	11.6	8.6%	115 (99.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$10,567			$526			$10,041	86.6	62.1	51	39
464155000387	13	Lennox High School - 01	Public	9-12	1201 S Main St	Lennox	57039	Lincoln County	Lennox School District 41-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 647-2203	359	22	16.2	13.6%	326 (90.8%)	2 (0.6%)	11 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (2.8%)	$10,642			$325			$10,316	86.1	85.2	12	1
460378000024	14	Armour High School - 01	Public	9-12	604 3rd St	Armour	57313	Douglas County	Armour School District 21-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 724-2153	47	7	6.6	27.7%	42 (89.4%)	1 (2.1%)	2 (4.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.1%)	$18,269			$342			$17,927	85.8			(n/a)
462140000190	15	Frederick High School - 01	Public	9-12	202 E Main St	Frederick	57441	Brown County	Frederick Area School District 06-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 329-2145	63	5	12.1	15.9%	58 (92.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.6%)	1 (1.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.8%)	$14,062			$1,013			$13,049	85.4	81.6	19	4
465175000475	16	Northwestern High School - 01	Public	9-12	221 3rd St	Mellette	57461	Spink County	Northwestern Area School District 56-7	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 887-3467	88	7	12.1	14.8%	85 (96.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.3%)	$13,236			$456			$12,781	85.3	84.5	13	3
460740000065	17	Bon Homme High School - 01	Public	9-12	1404 Fir St	Tyndall	57066	Bon Homme County	Bon Homme School District 04-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 589-3387	136	11	12.6	24.3%	128 (94.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.2%)	$11,751			$726			$11,025	84.6	46.7	80	63
468043901254	18	Irene - Wakonda High School - 01	Public	9-12	130 E State St	Irene	57037	Clay County	Irene - Wakonda School District 13-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 263-3313	82	9	9	26.8%	78 (95.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.4%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.4%)	$17,306			$343			$16,962	83.2	70.5	31	13
461128000114	19	Castlewood High School - 01	Public	9-12	310 E Harry St	Castlewood	57223	Hamlin County	Castlewood School District 28-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 793-2497	91	7	12.9	9.9%	84 (92.3%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (6.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	$10,138			$42			$10,097	82	75.1	25	6
462250000194	20	Ethan High School - 01	Public	9-12	320 S 2nd St	Ethan	57334	Davison County	Ethan School District 17-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 227-4211	87	8	11.3	14.9%	81 (93.1%)	1 (1.1%)	2 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.4%)	$13,332			$712			$12,620	82	92.6	6	14

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for South Dakota

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for SD student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial 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:

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.