Best High Schools in Mitchell, SD

Mitchell, South Dakota, has two high schools serving grades 9–12: Mitchell High School - 01, with 879 students, and Abbott House High School - 07, with 18. Only Mitchell High has reported test scores, so the figures show its standing against state and district benchmarks rather than which school has stronger achievement. Most important, Mitchell High exceeds the state in five of its six reported subject-and-test comparisons, with ELA its clearest strength.

Mitchell High stands out in the available results, while Abbott House cannot be placed at the top or bottom for achievement because no test scores are reported for it. Mitchell High is 19 percentage points above the state in 2024–25 Smarter Balanced ELA and 5 points above in science; its mathematics result is 4 points above the state but 4 points below the Mitchell School District 17-2. In 2025–26 ACT results, Mitchell High is 4 points above the state in ELA and 2 points above in science, but 1 point below in mathematics. Its reported 2025–26 graduation rate is 91%, 3 points above the state; its 3% dropout rate is 1 point above the state. Abbott House’s dropout rate is 6%, while its school-specific graduation figure is from 2023–24.

SchoolDigger’s ranking for Mitchell High rose from the 55th percentile in 2023–24 to the 75th in 2024–25, then fell to the 52nd in 2025–26—a net decline of 3 percentile points. This ranking movement does not establish a test-score trend. The schools also differ in size and reported context: Mitchell High has a student-teacher ratio of 17 and 36% free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–25; Abbott House has a ratio of 36 and 17% free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–25. Abbott House’s small enrollment is worth keeping in mind when interpreting its reported rates.