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)
468043901255	161	Irene - Wakonda Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-6	202 Nebraska St	Wakonda	57073	Clay County	Irene - Wakonda School District 13-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 267-2644	162	13	12.3	27.8%	146 (90.1%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (4.3%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.2%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (4.3%)	$14,317			$651			$13,666	26.2	43	121	40
467674000721	162	Waverly-South Shore Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	319 Mary Pl	Waverly	57201	Codington County	Waverly School District 14-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 886-9174	122	9	13.1	31.1%	109 (89.3%)	1 (0.8%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (6.6%)	$13,180			$600			$12,579	26.2	30.1	152	10
460207000010	163	Simmons Elementary - 10	Public	K-5	1500 S 3rd St	Aberdeen	57401	Brown County	Aberdeen School District 06-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 725-7600	395	29	13.7	39.2%	291 (73.7%)	3 (0.8%)	43 (10.9%)	11 (2.8%)	15 (3.8%)	5 (1.3%)	27 (6.8%)	$9,498			$853			$8,645	25	28.3	159	4
461695000159	164	Hermosa Elementary - 04	Public	K-6	11 4th St	Hermosa	57744	Custer County	Custer School District 16-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 255-4345	222	22	10	34.2%	184 (82.9%)	0 (0.0%)	14 (6.3%)	3 (1.4%)	11 (5.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (4.5%)	$15,148			$2,196			$12,952	24.3	35.8	141	23
465982000969	165	Valley View Elementary - 13	Public	K-5	4840 Homestead St	Rapid City	57703	Pennington County	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 393-2812	581	33	17.8	33.6%	383 (65.9%)	9 (1.5%)	64 (11.0%)	11 (1.9%)	45 (7.7%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (11.9%)	$9,204			$949			$8,255	23.4	22.9	168	3
467560000698	166	Wakpala Elementary - 02	Public	K-5	12250 SD Hwy 1806	Wakpala	57658	Corson County	Smee School District 15-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 845-3040	85	10	8.4	100.0%	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	85 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$22,498			$3,713			$18,784	22.6	27.5	162	4
466627001275	167	Rosa Parks Elementary - 15	Public	K-5	5701 E Red Oak Dr	Sioux Falls	57710	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 371-4170	729	45	16.1	46.0%	316 (43.3%)	131 (18.0%)	156 (21.4%)	41 (5.6%)	31 (4.3%)	2 (0.3%)	52 (7.1%)	$10,185			$1,081			$9,103	22.5	16.1	178	11
462439000207	168	Flandreau Elementary - 04	Public	K-4	500 W Community Dr	Flandreau	57028	Moody County	Flandreau School District 50-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 997-2780	269	25	10.5	1.1%	108 (40.1%)	0 (0.0%)	47 (17.5%)	2 (0.7%)	75 (27.9%)	1 (0.4%)	36 (13.4%)	$11,986			$1,164			$10,822	21.8	4.5	200	32
460207000009	169	O M Tiffany Elementary - 11	Public	K-5	819 8th Ave NE	Aberdeen	57401	Brown County	Aberdeen School District 06-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 725-7400	312	25	12.4	46.8%	219 (70.2%)	7 (2.2%)	30 (9.6%)	10 (3.2%)	18 (5.8%)	3 (1.0%)	25 (8.0%)	$11,102			$1,050			$10,052	21.1	33.3	143	26
463954000359	170	Andes Central Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	1001 High St	Lake Andes	57356	Charles Mix County	Andes Central School District 11-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 487-5243	189	17	11	100.0%	38 (20.1%)	1 (0.5%)	9 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	106 (56.1%)	0 (0.0%)	35 (18.5%)	$17,911			$3,320			$14,592	20.6	20.5	174	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:

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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

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.