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)
467662000714	131	Mellette Elementary - 07	Public	PK, KG-4	619 2nd St NW	Watertown	57201	Codington County	Watertown School District 14-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 882-6385	212	17	12.7	34.0%	162 (76.4%)	1 (0.5%)	20 (9.4%)	1 (0.5%)	16 (7.5%)	0 (0.0%)	12 (5.7%)	$11,331			$1,031			$10,300	39.4	56.6	88	43
464477000728	132	Lyman Elementary - 04	Public	PK, KG-5	411 E 2nd St	Kennebec	57544	Lyman County	Lyman School District 42-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 869-2213	200	19	10.7	43.5%	111 (55.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	78 (39.0%)	0 (0.0%)	11 (5.5%)	$15,810			$3,986			$11,824	39.4	32.7	145	13
460207000008	133	May Overby Elementary - 09	Public	K-5	612 14th Ave SE	Aberdeen	57401	Brown County	Aberdeen School District 06-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 725-7300	357	28	12.9	44.3%	215 (60.2%)	11 (3.1%)	43 (12.0%)	25 (7.0%)	29 (8.1%)	3 (0.8%)	31 (8.7%)	$10,603			$981			$9,622	39.2	29.6	154	21
463448000287	134	Hot Springs Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	240 N 19th St	Hot Springs	57747	Fall River County	Hot Springs School District 23-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 745-4149	331	25	12.9	29.9%	246 (74.3%)	4 (1.2%)	15 (4.5%)	2 (0.6%)	26 (7.9%)	1 (0.3%)	37 (11.2%)	$10,046			$1,089			$8,958	38.1	31.5	150	16
467851000745	135	White Lake Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	410 E 4th St	White Lake	57383	Aurora County	White Lake School District 01-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 249-2251	63	6	10.3	47.6%	61 (96.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$14,690			$1,641			$13,049	37.9			(n/a)
462134000185	136	Elk Point-Jefferson Elementary - 02	Public	K-5	500 S Franklin St	Elk Point	57025	Union County	Elk Point-Jefferson School District 61-7	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 356-5801	321	25	12.9	15.3%	290 (90.3%)	3 (0.9%)	15 (4.7%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.8%)	$10,668			$430			$10,238	37.8	47.5	107	29
467437000301	137	Jolley Elementary - 04	Public	2-5	224 S University	Vermillion	57069	Clay County	Vermillion School District 13-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 677-7015	407	27	15.2	35.4%	300 (73.7%)	13 (3.2%)	19 (4.7%)	4 (1.0%)	44 (10.8%)	0 (0.0%)	27 (6.6%)	$10,066			$2,087			$7,979	36.6	32.5	146	9
465982000540	138	Canyon Lake Elementary - 04	Public	PK, KG-5	1500 Evergreen Dr	Rapid City	57702	Pennington County	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 394-1817	346	25	13.8	39.0%	193 (55.8%)	8 (2.3%)	41 (11.8%)	4 (1.2%)	45 (13.0%)	1 (0.3%)	54 (15.6%)	$9,944			$1,034			$8,910	36.2	11.3	187	49
464130000372	139	Lead-Deadwood Elementary - 03	Public	K-5	716 Main St	Deadwood	57732	Lawrence County	Lead-Deadwood School District 40-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 717-3884	293	29	9.9	33.1%	242 (82.6%)	0 (0.0%)	26 (8.9%)	3 (1.0%)	5 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (5.8%)	$18,368			$3,131			$15,236	36.1	29.6	153	14
465982000530	140	Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17	Public	K-5	827 Franklin St	Rapid City	57701	Pennington County	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 394-1837	337	21	16.4	41.2%	189 (56.1%)	11 (3.3%)	38 (11.3%)	3 (0.9%)	53 (15.7%)	0 (0.0%)	43 (12.8%)	$10,224			$1,086			$9,138	35.9	32.8	144	4

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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:

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

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.