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)
460427000028	141	Avon Elementary - 02	Public	K-4	210 Pine St	Avon	57315	Bon Homme County	Avon School District 04-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 286-3291	65	7	8.8	13.8%	56 (86.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (6.2%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.6%)	$16,887			$1,762			$15,126	35.9	71.7	56	85
466627000813	142	Oscar Howe Elementary - 58	Public	K-5	2801 Valley View Rd	Sioux Falls	57106	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 362-2752	586	33	17.6	41.8%	366 (62.5%)	52 (8.9%)	87 (14.8%)	2 (0.3%)	38 (6.5%)	0 (0.0%)	41 (7.0%)	$9,991			$1,064			$8,927	35.4	43.3	120	22
462139000187	143	Elkton Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-6	508 Buffalo St	Elkton	57026	Brookings County	Elkton School District 05-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 542-2541	206	16	12.6	33.0%	161 (78.2%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (18.4%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.9%)	$12,185			$1,096			$11,089	35.3	19.9	175	32
461413000140	144	Colome Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	105 Carr St	Colome	57528	Tripp County	Colome Consolidated 59-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 842-1624	81	9	8.7	59.3%	55 (67.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	18 (22.2%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (8.6%)	$17,357			$3,475			$13,882	34.8	22.5	170	26
464494000776	145	Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02	Public	K-4	46450 252nd St	Colton	57018	Minnehaha County	Tri-Valley School District 49-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 446-3538	352	29	12.2	21.3%	295 (83.8%)	22 (6.3%)	25 (7.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.3%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (2.6%)	$12,447			$1,311			$11,136	34.3	54.9	91	54
468010000783	146	Wolsey Wessington Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	375 Ash St SE	Wolsey	57384	Beadle County	Wolsey Wessington School District 02-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 883-4221	166	11	14.9	25.3%	153 (92.2%)	1 (0.6%)	11 (6.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	$13,160			$1,494			$11,666	33.5	11.5	185	39
465982000823	147	Rapid Valley Elementary - 12	Public	PK, KG-5	2601 Covington St	Rapid City	57703	Pennington County	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 393-2221	514	31	16.4	36.0%	351 (68.3%)	0 (0.0%)	37 (7.2%)	0 (0.0%)	42 (8.2%)	0 (0.0%)	84 (16.3%)	$9,516			$950			$8,566	33.3	37.3	138	9
463135001375	148	Horizon Elementary - 09	Public	PK, KG-5	5800 S Bahnson Ave	Sioux Falls	57108	Lincoln County	Harrisburg School District 41-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 743-2567	373	33	11.4	15.0%	293 (78.6%)	22 (5.9%)	24 (6.4%)	9 (2.4%)	4 (1.1%)	0 (0.0%)	21 (5.6%)	$10,533			$408			$10,125	32.9	47.1	108	40
468019000789	149	Woonsocket Elementary - 03	Public	PK, KG-8	101 N 2nd Ave	Woonsocket	57385	Sanborn County	Woonsocket School District 55-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 796-4431	195	13	15	34.4%	176 (90.3%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (5.1%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.1%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.5%)	$10,679			$1,101			$9,578	32.1	39.5	130	19
463135000263	150	Liberty Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	200 Willow St	Harrisburg	57032	Lincoln County	Harrisburg School District 41-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 743-2567	565	40	14.2	11.2%	488 (86.4%)	11 (1.9%)	25 (4.4%)	4 (0.7%)	5 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	32 (5.7%)	$9,590			$574			$9,016	30.9	54.9	92	58

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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

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.