Best Elementary Schools in South Dakota

A teacher high-fives a student in a classroom.

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!

JUST IN! South Dakota Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores and updated rankings for the 2023-24 school year were recently posted to SchoolDigger!

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.

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)
463336000279	111	Hill City Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	341 Main St	Hill City	57745	Pennington County	Hill City School District 51-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 574-3015	221	17	12.6	29.4%	160 (72.4%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (19.9%)	1 (0.5%)	6 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.5%)	$12,306			$1,010			$11,296	49.4	42.8	122	11
464710000419	112	Menno Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	410 S 5th St	Menno	57045	Hutchinson County	Menno School District 33-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 387-5161	82	10	8.3	23.2%	80 (97.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	$18,120			$4,628			$13,491	49.4	53.7	96	16
460005201358	113	Tea Area Frontier Elementary - 05	Public	K-5	2700 S Lancaster Dr	Sioux Falls	57106	Minnehaha County	Tea Area School District 41-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 498-2700	236	17	13.6	28.0%	142 (60.2%)	24 (10.2%)	41 (17.4%)	6 (2.5%)	3 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	20 (8.5%)	$9,942			$823			$9,119	49.2	45.5	111	2
462085000181	114	Edgemont Elementary - 03	Public	PK, KG-8	715 Mogul Way	Edgemont	57735	Fall River County	Edgemont School District 23-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 662-7254	107	12	9.1	40.2%	94 (87.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (4.7%)	$15,953			$1,310			$14,643	49.2	21.1	173	59
465982000527	115	South Canyon Elementary - 15	Public	K-5	218 Nordbye Ln	Rapid City	57702	Pennington County	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 394-1801	266	19	14	27.1%	184 (69.2%)	0 (0.0%)	29 (10.9%)	2 (0.8%)	26 (9.8%)	0 (0.0%)	25 (9.4%)	$10,026			$627			$9,400	49.1	45	112	3
462550000219	116	Freeman Elementary - 02	Public	K-6	1001 S Wipf St	Freeman	57029	Hutchinson County	Freeman School District 33-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 925-4216	173	14	12.6	24.3%	148 (85.5%)	1 (0.6%)	18 (10.4%)	2 (1.2%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.7%)	$12,010			$333			$11,677	48.5	50.9	104	12
467662000713	117	McKinley Elementary - 06	Public	PK, KG-4	5 12th St SW	Watertown	57201	Codington County	Watertown School District 14-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 882-6350	234	19	12.5	52.6%	154 (65.8%)	1 (0.4%)	33 (14.1%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (10.3%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (9.4%)	$12,024			$1,517			$10,507	48.3	74.9	38	79
465982000548	118	Grandview Elementary - 06	Public	K-5	3301 Grandview Dr	Rapid City	57701	Pennington County	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 394-1829	406	26	15.4	28.8%	256 (63.1%)	8 (2.0%)	42 (10.3%)	6 (1.5%)	47 (11.6%)	1 (0.2%)	46 (11.3%)	$9,962			$618			$9,344	47.8	40.6	127	9
460102600404	119	McCook Central Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-4	200 E Essex	Salem	57058	McCook County	McCook Central School District 43-7	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 425-2264	184	13	14.5	21.2%	167 (90.8%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (3.8%)	$8,898			$1,863			$7,035	45.4	44.9	113	6
462241000191	120	Estelline Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	404 6th St N	Estelline	57234	Hamlin County	Estelline School District 28-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 873-2201	133	12	11.4	26.3%	109 (82.0%)	1 (0.8%)	16 (12.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (5.3%)	$13,391			$1,326			$12,065	44.5	40.3	128	8

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 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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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.