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)
461294000132	91	Clark Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	200 2nd Ave NW	Clark	57225	Clark County	Clark School District 12-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 532-3606	201	15	13	29.4%	162 (80.6%)	4 (2.0%)	27 (13.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (4.0%)	$11,635			$1,003			$10,632	57.1	51.2	103	12
466336000556	92	Rosholt Elementary - 02	Public	K-5	202 Finley Ave	Rosholt	57260	Roberts County	Rosholt School District 54-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 537-4283	84	8	10.5	33.3%	55 (65.5%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (9.5%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (14.3%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (10.7%)	$14,796			$1,845			$12,951	56.9	70.8	59	33
463135001169	93	Explorer Elementary - 04	Public	K-5	4010 W 82nd St	Sioux Falls	57108	Lincoln County	Harrisburg School District 41-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 743-2567	370	29	12.9	21.4%	268 (72.4%)	28 (7.6%)	32 (8.6%)	13 (3.5%)	4 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (6.8%)	$11,040			$622			$10,419	56.3	62.7	78	15
463960001189	94	Madison Elementary - 07	Public	K-5	700 NW 9th St	Madison	57042	Lake County	Madison Central School District 39-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 256-7721	508	35	14.3	23.8%	423 (83.3%)	7 (1.4%)	42 (8.3%)	4 (0.8%)	11 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (4.1%)	$10,145			$1,910			$8,235	55.9	56.8	87	7
461128000113	95	Castlewood Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	310 E Harry St	Castlewood	57223	Hamlin County	Castlewood School District 28-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 793-2497	154	10	14.8	18.8%	143 (92.9%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (5.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.3%)	$11,958			$670			$11,288	55.4	52.8	98	3
460004601167	96	Hitchcock-Tulare Elementary - 05	Public	PK, KG-6	235 Palm St	Hitchcock	57348	Beadle County	Hitchcock Tulare School District 56-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 266-2151	104	10	10.5	27.9%	101 (97.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.9%)	$16,918			$1,427			$15,492	54.8	75.2	37	59
460002800013	97	Alcester-Hudson Elementary - 04	Public	K-6	409 E 6th St	Alcester	57001	Union County	Alcester-Hudson School District 61-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 934-2171	195	18	10.9	25.1%	171 (87.7%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (7.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.1%)	$11,882			$909			$10,973	54.1	52.2	100	3
461941000436	98	Vandenberg Elementary - 02	Public	4-5	561 Briggs St	Box Elder	57719	Pennington County	Douglas School District 51-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 923-0060	441	29	15	28.8%	293 (66.4%)	7 (1.6%)	56 (12.7%)	3 (0.7%)	32 (7.3%)	3 (0.7%)	47 (10.7%)	$11,006			$1,431			$9,576	54.1	52.6	99	1
466627000607	99	Robert Frost Elementary - 18	Public	PK, KG-5	3101 S 4th Ave	Sioux Falls	57105	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 367-6170	442	23	18.8	34.4%	305 (69.0%)	50 (11.3%)	33 (7.5%)	9 (2.0%)	13 (2.9%)	1 (0.2%)	31 (7.0%)	$10,654			$1,190			$9,465	53.8	44.7	116	17
461056000108	100	Lawrence Elementary - 02	Public	K-5	724 N Sanborn	Canton	57013	Lincoln County	Canton School District 41-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 764-2579	388	30	12.7	17.0%	367 (94.6%)	2 (0.5%)	6 (1.5%)	1 (0.3%)	6 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (1.5%)	$11,201			$461			$10,741	53.4	68.5	63	37

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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:

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.