Summary:
The city of Mount Vernon, South Dakota is home to a high-performing school district, the Mount Vernon School District 17-3, which includes 1 elementary school, 1 middle school, and 1 high school. The standout school in the district is the Mount Vernon Middle School - 03, which has consistently ranked among the top middle schools in the state, with a statewide ranking of 7th out of 246 middle schools in the 2024-2025 school year and a 5-star rating from SchoolDigger.
The middle school's strong performance is evident across several metrics, with 72.88% of students proficient or better in English Language Arts and 74.57% proficient or better in mathematics, significantly outperforming the district and state averages. The Mount Vernon High School - 01 also stands out, ranking 23rd out of 166 high schools in the state and maintaining a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger, with a strong graduation rate of 86.4% and a low dropout rate of 2.6%.
While the district as a whole is performing exceptionally well, the relatively high chronic absenteeism rates at the Mount Vernon Elementary - 02 and the Mount Vernon Middle School - 03 are an area of concern that the district may want to investigate further and address. Additionally, the variation in spending per student and student-teacher ratios across the schools suggests that the district may have different resource allocation strategies for different grade levels.
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