Summary:
Schools in zip code 58601 include 11 schools—seven elementary, one middle and three high schools—serving 4,087 students, from 38 at each Roughrider virtual school to 1,022 at Dickinson High. Results vary substantially by school and subject, while attendance is a concern across the area: chronic absenteeism is above the state’s 19% at every school with reported data, ranging from 21% at Lincoln Elementary School to 34% at Dickinson High School.
Among traditional elementary schools, Lincoln stands out in all-grades math at 65–73%, while Heart River is at 35–43%—a gap of at least 22 points. The leaders differ by grade: Lincoln leads 3rd- and 5th-grade math and 3rd-grade reading; Roosevelt leads 4th-grade math and reading, and P S Berg leads 5th-grade reading. Heart River is especially low in 5th grade, including 20–39% in math and reading. At the secondary level, Dickinson Middle School is strong in all-grades science at 48%, 9 points above the state. Dickinson High’s 10th-grade science is 36%, 4 points above the state, while its 10th-grade math and reading are each 4 points below. The bands limit exact comparisons among some elementary results.
Elementary math and reading averages rose across the same six traditional schools: math went from 42% in 2024–2025 to 53.2–59.8% in 2025–2026, and reading from 35% to 50.8–58.8%; the bands do not show whether the group gained ground on the state. SchoolDigger’s statewide percentile improved from 43rd to 52nd for Lincoln, but fell from 32nd to 15th for Heart River. As context, the six schools’ free/reduced lunch eligible shares in 2024–2025 ranged from 19% at Jefferson Elementary School to 44% at Heart River, and student-teacher ratios ranged from 7.9 at P S Berg to 15.8 at Heart River; these measures alone do not explain results. Dickinson High’s 2025–2026 graduation rate was 97%, above the state’s 87%, despite its 34% chronic absenteeism.
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