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)
464794200429	11	Miller Elementary - 02	Public	K-6	623 E 4th St	Miller	57362	Hand County	Miller 29-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 853-2711	234	21	10.9	22.2%	216 (92.3%)	2 (0.9%)	13 (5.6%)	1 (0.4%)	2 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$14,044			$718			$13,326	87.3	87.3	11
463606000332	12	Ipswich Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	510 2nd Ave	Ipswich	57451	Edmunds County	Ipswich Public School District 22-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 426-6832	177	15	11.6	23.7%	164 (92.7%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.4%)	$12,862			$1,465			$11,397	87.2	71.3	57	45
464155000386	13	Lennox Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-4	305 W 5th Ave	Lennox	57039	Lincoln County	Lennox School District 41-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 647-2203	384	23	16.6	16.9%	337 (87.8%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (3.1%)	2 (0.5%)	12 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (5.5%)	$10,275			$665			$9,610	86	92.6	6	7
462142010071	14	Bridgewater-Emery Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	510 N Main St	Bridgewater	57319	McCook County	Bridgewater-Emery 30-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 729-2541	159	12	13	39.6%	151 (95.0%)	1 (0.6%)	3 (1.9%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.9%)	$12,767			$2,004			$10,763	85.8	76.4	35	21
461958000358	15	Jones County Elementary - 02	Public	K-4	305 Jefferson Ave	Murdo	57559	Jones County	Jones County School District 37-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 669-2297	78	8	10.4	56.4%	62 (79.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (16.7%)	$12,794			$1,757			$11,037	85.7	67.4	66	51
460207000002	16	C C Lee Elementary - 05	Public	K-5	1900 N State St	Aberdeen	57401	Brown County	Aberdeen School District 06-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 725-7500	373	24	15.6	16.4%	299 (80.2%)	5 (1.3%)	11 (2.9%)	7 (1.9%)	20 (5.4%)	2 (0.5%)	29 (7.8%)	$10,063			$364			$9,698	85.4	87.9	10	6
466627001128	17	All City Elementary - 50	Public	K-5	2511 W Brookings St	Sioux Falls	57104	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 367-6120	145	9	16.9	11.7%	124 (85.5%)	11 (7.6%)	4 (2.8%)	1 (0.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.4%)	$10,003			$923			$9,080	85.3	74	40	23
466993000652	18	Whitewood Elementary - 04	Public	PK, KG-5	603 Garfield St	Whitewood	57793	Lawrence County	Meade School District 46-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 269-2264	124	10	11.8	42.7%	109 (87.9%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.2%)	$10,795			$318			$10,477	84.9	94.2	5	13
467662000944	19	Lincoln Elementary - 05	Public	PK, KG-4	1100 13th St NE	Watertown	57201	Codington County	Watertown School District 14-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 882-6340	338	21	15.8	21.3%	267 (79.0%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (13.0%)	7 (2.1%)	4 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	16 (4.7%)	$10,384			$466			$9,917	84.2	88.2	9	10
460372000021	20	Arlington Elementary - 02	Public	K-6	306 S Main St	Arlington	57212	Kingsbury County	Arlington School District 38-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 983-5741	161	11	14.8	19.3%	143 (88.8%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (8.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.9%)	$12,480			$395			$12,084	83.3	70.6	60	40

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

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

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.