Best School Districts in South Dakota

Welcome to SchoolDigger, your go-to source for South Dakota school district rankings! Our user-friendly platform emphasizes test scores, offering a clear, data-driven comparison to help you navigate the educational landscape. Uncover the best-performing school districts in the Mount Rushmore State and make well-informed decisions for your child's future. With our extensive database, you can explore top-rated districts, examine their performance, and gain valuable insights. Choose SchoolDigger.com as your trusted partner in finding the perfect school district in South Dakota. Your journey to educational excellence starts here!

Year after year, SchoolDigger is always the first to publish South Dakota test scores and rankings. Other sites use stale test score data that are several years old! Be in the know with the very latest performance metrics.

The list is updated annually upon the release of the test scores by the South Dakota Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 30, 2025.

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Rank (of 147)	District	Grades	# Elementary Schools	# Middle Schools	# High Schools	# Alt. Schools	City	County	Rank score (2025)	Rank (2024)	Rank change from 2024
76^th	Aberdeen School District 06-1	PK, KG-12	6	2	1	0	Aberdeen	Brown County	0.531	70	6
20^th	Agar-Blunt-Onida School District 58-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Onida	Sully County	0.778	39	19
60^th	Alcester-Hudson School District 61-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Alcester	Union County	0.587	104	44
	American Horse School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Allen	Bennett County			(n/a)
94^th	Andes Central School District 11-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Lake Andes	Charles Mix County	0.447	122	28
5^th	Arlington School District 38-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Arlington	Kingsbury County	0.874	12	7
81^st	Armour School District 21-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Armour	Douglas County	0.521	55	26
74^th	Avon School District 04-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Avon	Bon Homme County	0.532	75	1
6^th	Baltic School District 49-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Baltic	Minnehaha County	0.872	18	12
84^th	Belle Fourche School District 09-1	K-12	2	1	1	0	Belle Fourche	Butte County	0.509	102	18
140^th	Bennett County School District 03-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Martin	Bennett County	0.155	118	22
83^rd	Beresford School District 61-2	K-12	1	1	1	0	Beresford	Union County	0.514	79	4
7^th	Big Stone City School District 25-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	0	1	Big Stone City	Grant County	0.867		(n/a)
80^th	Bison School District 52-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Bison	Perkins County	0.526	81	1
	Black Hills Special Services Cooperative	PK, KG-12	0	1	1	1	Sturgis	Meade County			(n/a)
59^th	Bon Homme School District 04-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Tyndall	Bon Homme County	0.592	20	39
113^th	Bowdle School District 22-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Bowdle	Edmunds County	0.368		(n/a)
2^nd	Brandon Valley School District 49-2	PK, KG-12	4	2	1	0	Brandon	Minnehaha County	0.935	3	1
19^th	Bridgewater-Emery 30-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Bridgewater	McCook County	0.779	30	11
102^nd	Britton-Hecla School District 45-4	K-12	3	1	2	0	Britton	Marshall County	0.405	73	29
64^th	Brookings School District 05-1	PK, KG-12	5	2	2	0	Brookings	Brookings County	0.573	77	13
42^nd	Burke School District 26-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Burke	Gregory County	0.664	41	1
50^th	Canistota School District 43-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Canistota	McCook County	0.625	47	3
33^rd	Canton School District 41-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Canton	Lincoln County	0.7	33
105^th	Castlewood School District 28-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Castlewood	Hamlin County	0.391	43	62
16^th	Centerville School District 60-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Centerville	Turner County	0.8	51	35
111^th	Chamberlain School District 07-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Chamberlain	Brule County	0.374	89	22
108^th	Chester Area School District 39-1	PK, KG-12	3	1	3	0	Chester	Lake County	0.382	74	34
	Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Eagle Butte	Dewey County			(n/a)
128^th	Clark School District 12-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Clark	Clark County	0.28	107	21
93^rd	Colman-Egan School District 50-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Colman	Moody County	0.45	97	4
78^th	Colome School District 59-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Colome	Tripp County	0.528	80	2
25^th	Corsica-Stickney 21-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Corsica	Douglas County	0.758	7	18
	Crazy Horse School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Wanblee	Jackson County			(n/a)
	Crow Creek Reservation High School	6-12	0	0	1	0	Stephan	Hyde County			(n/a)
	Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Elementary School	K-5	1	0	0	0	Stephan	Hyde County			(n/a)
58^th	Custer School District 16-1	PK, KG-12	2	2	2	0	Custer	Custer County	0.593	46	12
23^rd	Dakota Valley School District 61-8	K-12	2	1	1	0	North Sioux City	Union County	0.776	16	7
55^th	De Smet School District 38-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	De Smet	Kingsbury County	0.604	69	14
24^th	Dell Rapids School District 49-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	Dell Rapids	Minnehaha County	0.766	19	5
124^th	Deubrook Area School District 05-6	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	White	Brookings County	0.299	66	58
70^th	Deuel School District 19-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Clear Lake	Deuel County	0.553	44	26
116^th	Doland School District 56-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	2	0	Doland	Spink County	0.332		(n/a)
104^th	Douglas School District 51-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Box Elder	Pennington County	0.397	94	10
141^st	Dupree School District 64-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Dupree	Ziebach County	0.147	124	17
147^th	Eagle Butte School District 20-1	K-12	2	2	2	0	Eagle Butte	Ziebach County	0.046		(n/a)
	East Dakota Educational Cooperative	K-12	1	1	5	1	Sioux Falls	Minnehaha County			(n/a)
126^th	Edgemont School District 23-1	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Edgemont	Fall River County	0.289	76	50
69^th	Edmunds Central School District 22-5	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Roscoe	Edmunds County	0.553	125	56
26^th	Elk Mountain School District 16-2	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Edgemont	Custer County	0.747		(n/a)
34^th	Elk Point-Jefferson School District 61-7	K-12	1	1	1	0	Elk Point	Union County	0.697	52	18
97^th	Elkton School District 05-3	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Elkton	Brookings County	0.423	111	14
	Enemy Swim Day School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Waubay	Day County			(n/a)
96^th	Estelline School District 28-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Estelline	Hamlin County	0.43	83	13
9^th	Ethan School District 17-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Ethan	Davison County	0.862	8	1
72^nd	Eureka School District 44-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Eureka	McPherson County	0.538	27	45
73^rd	Faith School District 46-2	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Faith	Meade County	0.538		(n/a)
41^st	Faulkton Area Schools 24-4	PK, KG-12	4	1	2	0	Faulkton	Faulk County	0.673		(n/a)
	Flandreau Indian Boarding School	9-12	0	0	1	0	Flandreau	Moody County			(n/a)
134^th	Flandreau School District 50-3	K-12	2	1	1	0	Flandreau	Moody County	0.251	115	19
121^st	Florence School District 14-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Florence	Codington County	0.307	109	12
40^th	Frederick Area School District 06-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Frederick	Brown County	0.674	9	31
79^th	Freeman School District 33-1	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Freeman	Hutchinson County	0.527	36	43
100^th	Garretson School District 49-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Garretson	Minnehaha County	0.412	93	7
115^th	Gayville-Volin School District 63-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Gayville	Yankton County	0.333	110	5
11^th	Gettysburg School District 53-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Gettysburg	Potter County	0.846	5	6
61^st	Gregory School District 26-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Gregory	Gregory County	0.586	48	13
14^th	Groton Area School District 06-6	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Groton	Brown County	0.82	17	3
92^nd	Haakon School District 27-1	K-12	2	1	1	0	Philip	Haakon County	0.451	88	4
18^th	Hamlin School District 28-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hayti	Hamlin County	0.779	31	13
43^rd	Hanson School District 30-1	PK, KG-12	3	1	2	0	Alexandria	Hanson County	0.66	11	32
22^nd	Harding County School District 31-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Buffalo	Harding County	0.777	68	46
39^th	Harrisburg School District 41-2	PK, KG-12	7	3	1	0	Harrisburg	Lincoln County	0.674	45	6
136^th	Henry School District 14-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Henry	Codington County	0.203	121	15
62^nd	Herreid School District 10-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Herreid	Campbell County	0.585	21	41
30^th	Highmore-Harrold School District 34-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Highmore	Hyde County	0.713	28	2
31^st	Hill City School District 51-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hill City	Pennington County	0.712	49	18
37^th	Hitchcock Tulare School District 56-6	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Tulare	Spink County	0.69	86	49
86^th	Hot Springs School District 23-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hot Springs	Fall River County	0.494	91	5
27^th	Hoven School District 53-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hoven	Potter County	0.741		(n/a)
10^th	Howard School District 48-3	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Howard	Miner County	0.856	13	3
137^th	Huron School District 02-2	PK, KG-12	5	1	4	0	Huron	Beadle County	0.201		(n/a)
36^th	Ipswich Public School District 22-6	PK, KG-12	4	1	2	0	Ipswich	Edmunds County	0.69	10	26
48^th	Irene - Wakonda School District 13-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Irene	Turner County	0.645	67	19
133^rd	Iroquois School District 02-3	PK, KG-12	1	2	1	0	Iroquois	Kingsbury County	0.254	117	16
	Isna Wica Owayawa	K-8	1	0	0	0	Oglala	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
28^th	Jones County School District 37-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	Murdo	Jones County	0.737	25	3
51^st	Kadoka Area School District 35-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Kadoka	Jackson County	0.623	4	47
53^rd	Kimball School District 07-2	PK, KG-12	2	1	2	0	Kimball	Brule County	0.609	50	3
4^th	Lake Preston School District 38-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Lake Preston	Kingsbury County	0.922	15	11
114^th	Langford Area School District 45-5	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Langford	Marshall County	0.355	63	51
106^th	Lead-Deadwood School District 40-1	K-12	1	1	2	0	Lead	Lawrence County	0.387	78	28
52^nd	Lemmon School District 52-4	K-12	1	1	1	0	Lemmon	Perkins County	0.622	62	10
3^rd	Lennox School District 41-4	PK, KG-12	2	2	1	0	Lennox	Lincoln County	0.932	2	1
67^th	Leola School District 44-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	2	0	Leola	McPherson County	0.56		(n/a)
	Little Eagle School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Little Eagle	Corson County			(n/a)
	Little Wound School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Kyle	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
	Lower Brule Day School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Lower Brule	Lyman County			(n/a)
87^th	Lyman School District 42-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Presho	Lyman County	0.469	105	18
38^th	Madison Central School District 39-2	K-12	1	1	1	0	Madison	Lake County	0.683	58	20
91^st	Marion School District 60-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Marion	Turner County	0.455	87	4
	Marty Indian School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Marty	Charles Mix County			(n/a)
98^th	McCook Central School District 43-7	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Salem	McCook County	0.416	100	2
123^rd	McIntosh School District 15-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Mc Intosh	Corson County	0.303	113	10
145^th	McLaughlin School District 15-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Mc Laughlin	Corson County	0.068	126	19
65^th	Meade School District 46-1	PK, KG-12	8	2	1	0	Sturgis	Meade County	0.566	29	36
122^nd	Menno School District 33-2	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Menno	Hutchinson County	0.306	84	38
71^st	Milbank School District 25-4	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Milbank	Grant County	0.546	26	45
107^th	Miller School District 29-4	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Miller	Hand County	0.386	34	73
45^th	Mitchell School District 17-2	K-12	6	1	2	0	Mitchell	Davison County	0.651	32	13
54^th	Mobridge-Pollock School District 62-6	K-12	2	1	1	0	Mobridge	Walworth County	0.609	54
13^th	Montrose School District 43-2	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Montrose	McCook County	0.822	22	9
8^th	Mount Vernon School District 17-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Mount Vernon	Davison County	0.864	14	6
110^th	New Underwood School District 51-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	New Underwood	Pennington County	0.378	92	18
82^nd	Newell School District 09-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Newell	Butte County	0.518	85	3
103^rd	Northwestern Area School District 56-7	PK, KG-12	2	2	2	0	Mellette	Spink County	0.401	40	63
144^th	Oelrichs School District 23-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Oelrichs	Fall River County	0.103		(n/a)
146^th	Oglala Lakota County School District 65-1	PK, KG-12	4	0	2	0	Batesland	Oglala Lakota County	0.046		(n/a)
139^th	Oldham-Ramona-Rutland School District 39-6	PK, KG-12	3	1	2	0	Rutland	Lake County	0.171		(n/a)
	Pahin Sinte Owayawa	K-8	1	0	0	0	Porcupine	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
101^st	Parker School District 60-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Parker	Turner County	0.409	90	11
89^th	Parkston School District 33-3	PK, KG-12	3	1	2	0	Parkston	Hutchinson County	0.464		(n/a)
	Pierre Indian Learning Center	1-8	1	0	0	0	Pierre	Hughes County			(n/a)
32^nd	Pierre School District 32-2	K-12	3	1	1	0	Pierre	Hughes County	0.709	23	9
	Pine Ridge School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Pine Ridge	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
	Plankinton School District 01-1	PK, KG-12	1	3	3	0	Plankinton	Aurora County			(n/a)
46^th	Platte - Geddes School District 11-5	K-12	3	1	1	0	Platte	Charles Mix County	0.649	42	4
112^th	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	PK, KG-12	14	5	4	2	Rapid City	Pennington County	0.371	99	13
57^th	Redfield School District 56-4	PK, KG-12	1	2	3	0	Redfield	Spink County	0.596	71	14
	Rock Creek Grant School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Bullhead	Corson County			(n/a)
125^th	Rosholt School District 54-4	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Rosholt	Roberts County	0.297	103	22
44^th	Sanborn Central School District 55-5	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Forestburg	Sanborn County	0.655	61	17
	School District School For The Blind & Visually Impaired	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Aberdeen	Brown County			(n/a)
77^th	Scotland School District 04-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Scotland	Bon Homme County	0.531	101	24
17^th	Selby Area School District 62-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Selby	Walworth County	0.796	38	21
90^th	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	PK, KG-12	25	7	8	3	Sioux Falls	Minnehaha County	0.462	72	18
12^th	Sioux Valley School District 05-5	K-12	1	1	1	0	Volga	Brookings County	0.83	35	23
132^nd	Sisseton School District 54-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Sisseton	Roberts County	0.262	119	13
135^th	Smee School District 15-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	Wakpala	Corson County	0.209	114	21
56^th	South Central School District 26-5	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Bonesteel	Gregory County	0.597		(n/a)
75^th	Spearfish School District 40-2	K-12	3	2	2	0	Spearfish	Lawrence County	0.531		(n/a)
	St. Francis Indian School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Saint Francis	Todd County			(n/a)
85^th	Stanley County School District 57-1	K-12	2	1	1	0	Fort Pierre	Stanley County	0.509	106	21
138^th	Summit School District 54-6	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Summit	Roberts County	0.195	112	26
	Takini School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Howes	Ziebach County			(n/a)
21^st	Tea Area School District 41-5	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Tea	Lincoln County	0.777	37	16
15^th	Timber Lake School District 20-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Timber Lake	Dewey County	0.82	6	9
	Tiospa Zina Tribal School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Agency Village	Roberts County			(n/a)
	Tiospaye Topa School	K-12	0	0	0	1	La Plant	Dewey County			(n/a)
142^nd	Todd County School District 66-1	K-12	8	2	2	1	Mission	Todd County	0.146		(n/a)
130^th	Tripp-Delmont School District 33-5	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Tripp	Hutchinson County	0.269		(n/a)
68^th	Tri-Valley School District 49-6	K-12	2	1	1	0	Colton	Minnehaha County	0.555	65	3
49^th	Vermillion School District 13-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Vermillion	Clay County	0.638	64	15
66^th	Viborg-Hurley School District 60-6	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Viborg	Turner County	0.562	82	16
119^th	Wagner Community School District 11-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Wagner	Charles Mix County	0.317	95	24
63^rd	Wall School District 51-5	K-12	1	1	1	0	Wall	Pennington County	0.576	57	6
1^st	Warner School District 06-5	K-12	1	1	1	0	Warner	Brown County	0.985	1
99^th	Watertown School District 14-4	PK, KG-12	5	2	1	0	Watertown	Codington County	0.416	56	43
118^th	Waubay School District 18-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Waubay	Day County	0.319	53	65
129^th	Waverly School District 14-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Waverly	Codington County	0.278	116	13
35^th	Webster Area School District 18-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Webster	Day County	0.696	24	11
127^th	Wessington Springs School District 36-2	PK, KG-12	3	2	2	0	Wessington Springs	Jerauld County	0.288		(n/a)
29^th	West Central School District 49-7	K-12	2	1	3	0	Hartford	Minnehaha County	0.717	59	30
109^th	White Lake School District 01-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	White Lake	Aurora County	0.379		(n/a)
143^rd	White River School District 47-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	White River	Mellette County	0.121	123	20
131^st	Willow Lake School District 12-3	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Willow Lake	Clark County	0.268		(n/a)
120^th	Wilmot School District 54-7	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Wilmot	Roberts County	0.314	120
117^th	Winner School District 59-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Winner	Tripp County	0.329	108	9
95^th	Wolsey Wessington School District 02-6	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Wolsey	Beadle County	0.433	98	3
88^th	Woonsocket School District 55-4	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Woonsocket	Sanborn County	0.466	96	8
	Wounded Knee District School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Manderson	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
47^th	Yankton School District 63-3	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Yankton	Yankton County	0.647	60	13

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About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on test scores released by the South Dakota Department of Education.
These rankings were last updated on October 30, 2025, and are based on the most recent test scores available. We update rankings as we receive new test scores from the South Dakota Department of Education, usually on a yearly basis.
Our sources of data include the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education and the South Dakota Department of Education.
For more information about our ranking process, please see our Ranking FAQ. Details about our methodology are here.

Educational resources:

Charter Schools vs Regular Public Schools: Understanding the Key Differences

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

SchoolDigger data sources: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau and the South Dakota Department of Education.