Summary:
The Smee School District 15-3 in South Dakota has only one elementary school, Wakpala Elementary - 02, which serves students from pre-kindergarten through 5th grade. The school's performance has declined over the past three years, with its statewide rank dropping from 162 out of 204 schools in 2022-2023 to 192 out of 300 schools in 2024-2025.
Wakpala Elementary - 02 has a mixed academic performance, with proficiency rates in English Language Arts (ELA) generally higher than the district and state averages, but significantly lower in Mathematics and Science. In 2024-2025, the school's ELA proficiency rate for all grades was 51.28%, compared to 43.82% for the district and 50.93% for the state. However, the school's Mathematics proficiency rate for all grades was only 28.21%, compared to 19.1% for the district and 43.49% for the state. The school's 5th-grade Science proficiency rate was 23.08%, compared to 23.08% for the district and 40.54% for the state.
The school serves a high-poverty population, with 100% of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch in 2023-2024. The school's spending per student is $25,308 for the 2023-2024 school year, and it has a relatively small student population of 84 students and a low student-teacher ratio of 8.5. Additionally, the school's chronic absenteeism rate was 20.2% in 2024-2025, which may be contributing to the academic challenges faced by the school.
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