Dakota CUSD 201

The two schools in Dakota CUSD 201 serve 754 students across grades PK–12: Dakota Elementary School serves PK–6, and Dakota Junior Senior High School serves grades 7–12. The strongest overall signal is that both schools’ 2025–2026 all-grades IAR results were above state rates in both subjects: elementary ELA and math were 61% and 48%, compared with 56% and 40% statewide; junior-senior high results were 66% and 44%.

The schools lead in different reported all-grades subjects: junior-senior high ELA was 6 percentage points above elementary (66% versus 61%), while elementary math was 4 points higher (48% versus 44%). These all-grades results cover different grade spans, so they are not like-for-like school comparisons. Grade-specific results show standout strengths at both schools: elementary fourth-grade math reached 59%, 17 points above the state, and junior-senior high 11th-grade ACT ELA was 70%, 20 points above the state. The clearest weak spot is junior-senior high 10th-grade PreACT, where ELA was 44% versus 54% statewide, math was 32% versus 36%, and science was 38% versus 48%.

Both schools’ reported IAR ELA improved from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026: elementary rose from 48% to 61%, and junior-senior high from 55% to 66%; math moved differently, rising from 45% to 48% at elementary but falling from 47% to 44% at the high school. SchoolDigger ranked the junior-senior high at the 69th percentile in 2025–2026, down from the 85th percentile in 2023–2024; elementary was at the 59th percentile, compared with the 63rd percentile in 2023–2024. As context, 2024–2025 free/reduced lunch eligible rates were 36% at elementary and 30% at the high school; student-teacher ratios were 12.6 and 14.4, respectively. Chronic absenteeism was low at both schools in 2025–2026—8% and 9%, versus 24% statewide—and the high school graduation rate was 92%, compared with 90% statewide.