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)
461032000105	21	Canistota High School - 01	Public	9-12	431 4th Ave	Canistota	57012	McCook County	Canistota School District 43-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 296-3458	76	7	10.6	15.8%	71 (93.4%)	1 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.3%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.9%)	$15,212			$785			$14,427	81.5	52	73	52
460264000017	22	Hanson High School - 01	Public	9-12	230 6th St	Alexandria	57311	Hanson County	Hanson School District 30-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 239-4387	131	8	16.1	12.2%	121 (92.4%)	1 (0.8%)	2 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.6%)	$9,543			$77			$9,466	80.1	93.5	4	18
467188000665	23	Timber Lake High School - 01	Public	9-12	500 Main St	Timber Lake	57656	Dewey County	Timber Lake School District 20-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 865-3654	113	11	10.3	31.0%	56 (49.6%)	1 (0.9%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (48.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$17,795			$2,010			$15,785	79.1	95.2	3	20
464965000455	24	Mount Vernon High School- 01	Public	9-12	500 N Main	Mount Vernon	57363	Davison County	Mount Vernon School District 17-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 236-5237	93	8	12.4	18.3%	86 (92.5%)	1 (1.1%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (4.3%)	1 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	$12,314			$288			$12,026	78.6	61	54	30
463336000280	25	Hill City High School - 01	Public	9-12	488 Main St	Hill City	57745	Pennington County	Hill City School District 51-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 574-3000	152	12	12.5	20.4%	113 (74.3%)	1 (0.7%)	23 (15.1%)	2 (1.3%)	5 (3.3%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (5.3%)	$12,565			$349			$12,216	78.2	69.6	34	9
461695000155	26	Custer High School - 01	Public	9-12	1645 Wildcat Ln	Custer	57730	Custer County	Custer School District 16-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 673-4473	284	22	12.7	16.2%	241 (84.9%)	2 (0.7%)	26 (9.2%)	1 (0.4%)	6 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (2.8%)	$13,379			$1,048			$12,330	77.5	63.3	47	21
463606000333	27	Ipswich High School - 01	Public	9-12	510 2nd Ave	Ipswich	57451	Edmunds County	Ipswich Public School District 22-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 426-6571	114	7	15.3	16.7%	109 (95.6%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	$10,179			$306			$9,873	77.5	67.4	39	12
460004501155	28	Groton Area High School - 01	Public	9-12	502 N 2nd St	Groton	57445	Brown County	Groton Area School District 06-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 397-8381	175	13	12.9	8.6%	169 (96.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.3%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	$13,174			$1,324			$11,850	76.1	79.2	20	8
468043000798	29	Yankton High School - 01	Public	9-12	1801 Summit St	Yankton	57078	Yankton County	Yankton School District 63-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 665-2073	942	52	18.1	23.7%	777 (82.5%)	11 (1.2%)	91 (9.7%)	4 (0.4%)	38 (4.0%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (2.2%)	$10,424			$1,047			$9,378	76.1	67.8	37	8
463243000278	30	Herreid High School - 01	Public	9-12	302 Main St N	Herreid	57632	Campbell County	Herreid School District 10-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 437-2263	40	5	8	27.5%	38 (95.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.5%)	$13,704			$1,581			$12,123	76	56.4	63	33

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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:

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.