Best High Schools in South Dakota

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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.

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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)
462649000227	91	Gayville-Volin High School - 01	Public	9-12	100 Kingsbury St	Gayville	57031	Yankton County	Gayville-Volin School District 63-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 267-4476	82	8	10.8	19.5%	71 (86.6%)	1 (1.2%)	7 (8.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.7%)	$13,134			$593			$12,541	37.7	55.8	66	25
462454000209	92	Florence High School - 01	Public	9-12	515 Main Ave	Florence	57235	Codington County	Florence School District 14-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 758-2412	85	7	12	18.8%	81 (95.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.4%)	$11,059			$00			$11,059	36.6	30	102	10
465427000488	93	Parker High School - 01	Public	9-12	335 W 1st St	Parker	57053	Turner County	Parker School District 60-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 297-3456	157	11	13.9	6.4%	139 (88.5%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (7.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	1 (0.6%)	5 (3.2%)	$10,069			$00			$10,069	36.3	56.6	62	31
460624000042	94	Bennett County High School - 01	Public	9-12	202 E School St	Martin	57551	Bennett County	Bennett County School District 03-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 685-6330	126	15	8.6	100.0%	22 (17.5%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.6%)	2 (1.6%)	73 (57.9%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (17.5%)	$19,228			$5,692			$13,536	35.9	18.6	120	26
465571000508	95	Plankinton High School - 01	Public	9-12	404 E Davenport St	Plankinton	57368	Aurora County	Plankinton School District 01-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 942-7743	75	7	10.2	22.7%	55 (73.3%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (22.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$15,428			$180			$15,248	34.9	44.7	85	10
461410000091	96	Colman-Egan High School - 01	Public	9-12	200 S Loban Ave	Colman	57017	Moody County	Colman-Egan School District 50-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 534-3534	93	7	13.5	20.4%	74 (79.6%)	3 (3.2%)	12 (12.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.2%)	$11,020			$646			$10,373	34.6	45.1	84	12
463448000288	97	Hot Springs High School - 01	Public	9-12	110 N 16th St	Hot Springs	57747	Fall River County	Hot Springs School District 23-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 745-4147	255	20	12.9	16.5%	188 (73.7%)	4 (1.6%)	16 (6.3%)	2 (0.8%)	17 (6.7%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (11.0%)	$10,844			$561			$10,283	34	47	79	18
464626000411	98	McIntosh High School - 01	Public	9-12	511 Main St	Mc Intosh	57641	Corson County	McIntosh School District 15-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 273-4227	46	8	5.7	100.0%	18 (39.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (4.3%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (47.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (8.7%)	$30,269			$5,052			$25,217	33.9	31.3	100	2
462241000192	99	Estelline High School - 01	Public	9-12	708 Davis Ave	Estelline	57234	Hamlin County	Estelline School District 28-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 873-2201	79	8	9.9	25.3%	68 (86.1%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (12.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	$16,125			$422			$15,703	33.2	62	53	46
460930000088	100	Harding County High School - 01	Public	9-12	12474 Tipperary St	Buffalo	57720	Harding County	Harding County School District 31-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 375-3241	56	7	7.5	25.0%	53 (94.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.6%)	$17,210			$806			$16,404	33.1	77	23	77

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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

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.