Summary:
Alcester, South Dakota, has three schools serving kindergarten through grade 12: Alcester-Hudson Elementary (grades K–6, 166 students), Alcester-Hudson Junior High (grades 7–8, 53 students), and Alcester-Hudson High School (grades 9–12, 99 students). In the latest comparable all-grades results, Elementary and Junior High are both above the state in ELA, at 50% and 52% versus 49%; math shows a sharper difference, with Elementary at 47% and Junior High at 40% versus 44% statewide. The most important finding is that the comparable schools are close in ELA but fall on opposite sides of the state in math.
The High School stands out on its latest grade 11 results: ELA proficiency was 65% and science was 54%, respectively 17 and 9 points above the state; math was 35%, just 1 point higher. Its 2025–2026 graduation rate was 100%, 12 points above the state. SchoolDigger ranks the High School 33rd of 130 schools, in the 75th percentile with 4 stars. Among the other two, Elementary leads in math by 7 points, while Junior High leads in ELA by 2 points. SchoolDigger gives Elementary 3 stars (rank 96 of 203) and Junior High 2 stars (rank 87 of 151). The High School’s ACT results are not directly comparable with the other schools’ Smarter Balanced results.
Recent changes point in different directions: Elementary’s ELA fell 8 points and math fell 5 points from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, while Junior High rose 7 points in ELA and 6 in math. SchoolDigger’s percentile rankings also rose over two years: 64 points for the High School, 23 for Junior High, and 1 for Elementary. In 2024–2025, student-teacher ratios were similar—11.9 at Elementary, 11.6 at Junior High, and 11.3 at the High School. That year’s free/reduced lunch eligible shares were 34%, 38%, and 26%, respectively; these figures describe school context, not a cause of test results. Chronic absenteeism in 2025–2026 was lower than the state’s 20% at both Elementary (16%) and Junior High (14%).
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