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)
467830000559	81	Deubrook Elementary - 03	Public	PK, KG-6	695 Palisades Ave	Toronto	57268	Deuel County	Deubrook Area School District 05-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 794-1152	204	14	14.4	16.7%	200 (98.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	$11,312			$604			$10,708	58.8	36	140	59
465085000468	82	Newell Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	501 Dartmouth Ave	Newell	57760	Butte County	Newell School District 09-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 456-0102	152	9	16.8	37.5%	138 (90.8%)	2 (1.3%)	3 (2.0%)	1 (0.7%)	4 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.6%)	$13,076			$4,865			$8,211	58.4	30.9	151	69
467668000719	83	Waubay Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-6	202 W School Rd	Waubay	57273	Day County	Waubay School District 18-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 947-4529	87	11	7.9	58.6%	49 (56.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (25.3%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (16.1%)	$15,061			$1,548			$13,513	58.1	69.4	62	21
464878000451	84	Montrose Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	309 S Church Ave	Montrose	57048	McCook County	Montrose School District 43-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 363-5025	107	9	11.8	17.8%	101 (94.4%)	1 (0.9%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.9%)	$13,318			$680			$12,638	57.9	64.2	74	10
461032000104	85	Canistota Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	431 4th Ave	Canistota	57012	McCook County	Canistota School District 43-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 296-3458	157	10	15.4	24.2%	138 (87.9%)	1 (0.6%)	7 (4.5%)	2 (1.3%)	6 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.9%)	$12,552			$697			$11,855	57.9	77	33	52
465526000495	86	Jefferson Elementary - 06	Public	K-5	900 N Poplar Ave	Pierre	57501	Hughes County	Pierre School District 32-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 773-7320	430	29	14.8	33.7%	269 (62.6%)	3 (0.7%)	19 (4.4%)	0 (0.0%)	87 (20.2%)	0 (0.0%)	52 (12.1%)	$9,616			$970			$8,646	57.9	48.6	106	20
462485000213	87	Stanley County Elementary - 08	Public	K-5	17 E 2nd Ave	Fort Pierre	57532	Stanley County	Stanley County School District 57-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 223-7745	188	16	11.8	27.1%	136 (72.3%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (15.4%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (7.4%)	$13,599			$883			$12,716	57.7	53.9	95	8
460207001367	88	Mike Miller Elementary - 07	Public	K-5	3010 Milwaukee Ave NE	Aberdeen	57401	Brown County	Aberdeen School District 06-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 725-7800	244	17	13.9	29.5%	181 (74.2%)	3 (1.2%)	16 (6.6%)	17 (7.0%)	9 (3.7%)	3 (1.2%)	15 (6.1%)	$10,399			$738			$9,661	57.5	41.9	124	36
464152000381	89	Lemmon Elementary - 02	Public	K-6	905 5th Ave W	Lemmon	57638	Perkins County	Lemmon School District 52-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 374-3784	141	11	12.9	44.0%	126 (89.4%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.1%)	$13,277			$1,074			$12,203	57.2	54.3	93	4
464839000520	90	L. B. Williams Elementary - 03	Public	K-5	1420 W University Blvd	Mitchell	57301	Davison County	Mitchell School District 17-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 995-3090	436	34	12.8	38.5%	338 (77.5%)	5 (1.1%)	46 (10.6%)	2 (0.5%)	28 (6.4%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (3.9%)	$10,347			$1,039			$9,308	57.2	53.6	97	7

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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:

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

Girl in a wheelchair raising her hand in a classroom setting

Understanding an IEP: The Ultimate Guide for Parents and Educators

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.