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 17, 2024.

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Rank (of 126)	District	Grades	# Elementary Schools	# Middle Schools	# High Schools	# Alt. Schools	City	County	Rank score (2024)	Rank (2023)	Rank change from 2023
70^th	Aberdeen School District 06-1	PK, KG-12	6	2	2	0	Aberdeen	Brown County	0.453	64	6
39^th	Agar-Blunt-Onida School District 58-3	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Onida	Sully County	0.625	28	11
104^th	Alcester-Hudson School District 61-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Alcester	Union County	0.271	83	21
	American Horse School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Allen	Bennett County			(n/a)
122^nd	Andes Central School District 11-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Lake Andes	Charles Mix County	0.084	100	22
12^th	Arlington School District 38-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Arlington	Kingsbury County	0.847	31	19
55^th	Armour School District 21-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Armour	Douglas County	0.561	87	32
75^th	Avon School District 04-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Avon	Bon Homme County	0.438	12	63
18^th	Baltic School District 49-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Baltic	Minnehaha County	0.752	34	16
102^nd	Belle Fourche School District 09-1	K-12	2	1	2	0	Belle Fourche	Butte County	0.296	90	12
118^th	Bennett County School District 03-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Martin	Bennett County	0.162	121	3
79^th	Beresford School District 61-2	K-12	1	1	1	0	Beresford	Union County	0.41	114	35
	Big Stone City School District 25-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	0	1	Big Stone City	Grant County			(n/a)
81^st	Bison School District 52-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Bison	Perkins County	0.408		(n/a)
	Black Hills Special Services Cooperative	PK, KG-12	0	1	1	1	Sturgis	Meade County			(n/a)
20^th	Bon Homme School District 04-2	PK, KG-12	5	1	1	0	Tyndall	Bon Homme County	0.73		(n/a)
	Bowdle School District 22-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Bowdle	Edmunds County			(n/a)
3^rd	Brandon Valley School District 49-2	PK, KG-12	5	2	1	0	Brandon	Minnehaha County	0.931	4	1
30^th	Bridgewater-Emery 30-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Bridgewater	McCook County	0.681	55	25
73^rd	Britton-Hecla School District 45-4	K-12	3	1	2	0	Britton	Marshall County	0.446	84	11
77^th	Brookings School District 05-1	K-12	4	1	1	0	Brookings	Brookings County	0.426	75	2
41^st	Burke School District 26-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Burke	Gregory County	0.618	25	16
47^th	Canistota School District 43-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Canistota	McCook County	0.601	30	17
33^rd	Canton School District 41-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Canton	Lincoln County	0.669	52	19
43^rd	Castlewood School District 28-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Castlewood	Hamlin County	0.614	29	14
51^st	Centerville School District 60-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Centerville	Turner County	0.581	32	19
89^th	Chamberlain School District 07-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Chamberlain	Brule County	0.39	99	10
74^th	Chester Area School District 39-1	PK, KG-12	3	1	3	0	Chester	Lake County	0.445	66	8
	Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Eagle Butte	Dewey County			(n/a)
107^th	Clark School District 12-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Clark	Clark County	0.265	103	4
97^th	Colman-Egan School District 50-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Colman	Moody County	0.332	97
80^th	Colome Consolidated 59-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Colome	Tripp County	0.409	78	2
7^th	Corsica-Stickney 21-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Corsica	Douglas County	0.891	20	13
	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)
46^th	Custer School District 16-1	K-12	2	2	2	0	Custer	Custer County	0.605	61	15
16^th	Dakota Valley School District 61-8	K-12	2	1	1	0	North Sioux City	Union County	0.76	22	6
69^th	De Smet School District 38-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	De Smet	Kingsbury County	0.465	69
19^th	Dell Rapids School District 49-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	Dell Rapids	Minnehaha County	0.741	13	6
66^th	Deubrook Area School District 05-6	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	White	Brookings County	0.489	37	29
44^th	Deuel School District 19-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Clear Lake	Deuel County	0.613	62	18
	Doland School District 56-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	2	0	Doland	Spink County			(n/a)
94^th	Douglas School District 51-1	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Box Elder	Pennington County	0.356	67	27
124^th	Dupree School District 64-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Dupree	Ziebach County	0.056	122	2
	Eagle Butte School District 20-1	K-12	2	2	2	0	Eagle Butte	Dewey County			(n/a)
	East Dakota Educational Cooperative	K-12	1	1	5	1	Sioux Falls	Minnehaha County			(n/a)
76^th	Edgemont School District 23-1	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Edgemont	Fall River County	0.433	71	5
125^th	Edmunds Central School District 22-5	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Roscoe	Edmunds County	0.045	110	15
	Elk Mountain School District 16-2	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Edgemont	Fall River County			(n/a)
52^nd	Elk Point-Jefferson School District 61-7	K-12	1	1	1	0	Elk Point	Union County	0.577	35	17
111^th	Elkton School District 05-3	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Elkton	Brookings County	0.226	104	7
	Enemy Swim Day School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Waubay	Day County			(n/a)
83^rd	Estelline School District 28-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Estelline	Hamlin County	0.406	63	20
8^th	Ethan School District 17-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Ethan	Davison County	0.89	2	6
27^th	Eureka School District 44-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Eureka	McPherson County	0.703	45	18
	Faith School District 46-2	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Faith	Meade County			(n/a)
	Faulkton Area Schools 24-4	PK, KG-12	4	1	2	0	Faulkton	Faulk County			(n/a)
	Flandreau Indian Boarding School	9-12	0	0	1	0	Flandreau	Moody County			(n/a)
115^th	Flandreau School District 50-3	K-12	2	1	1	0	Flandreau	Moody County	0.173	115
109^th	Florence School District 14-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Florence	Codington County	0.25	94	15
9^th	Frederick Area School District 06-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Frederick	Brown County	0.886	15	6
36^th	Freeman School District 33-1	K-12	3	1	1	0	Freeman	Hutchinson County	0.642	56	20
93^rd	Garretson School District 49-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Garretson	Minnehaha County	0.36	107	14
110^th	Gayville-Volin School District 63-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Gayville	Yankton County	0.239	93	17
5^th	Gettysburg School District 53-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Gettysburg	Potter County	0.906	10	5
48^th	Gregory School District 26-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Gregory	Gregory County	0.585	57	9
17^th	Groton Area School District 06-6	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Groton	Brown County	0.757	8	9
88^th	Haakon School District 27-1	K-12	2	1	1	0	Philip	Haakon County	0.39	49	39
31^st	Hamlin School District 28-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hayti	Hamlin County	0.68	39	8
11^th	Hanson School District 30-1	PK, KG-12	3	1	2	0	Alexandria	Hanson County	0.863	3	8
68^th	Harding County School District 31-1	K-12	1	1	1	0	Buffalo	Harding County	0.474	33	35
45^th	Harrisburg School District 41-2	PK, KG-12	7	3	1	0	Harrisburg	Lincoln County	0.608	40	5
121^st	Henry School District 14-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Henry	Codington County	0.111	106	15
21^st	Herreid School District 10-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Herreid	Campbell County	0.729	50	29
28^th	Highmore-Harrold 34-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Highmore	Hyde County	0.7	74	46
49^th	Hill City School District 51-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hill City	Pennington County	0.584	51	2
86^th	Hitchcock Tulare School District 56-6	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Tulare	Spink County	0.393	85	1
91^st	Hot Springs School District 23-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hot Springs	Fall River County	0.372	70	21
	Hoven School District 53-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Hoven	Potter County			(n/a)
13^th	Howard School District 48-3	K-12	2	1	1	0	Howard	Miner County	0.847	7	6
	Huron School District 02-2	PK, KG-12	6	1	3	0	Huron	Beadle County			(n/a)
10^th	Ipswich Public School District 22-6	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Ipswich	Edmunds County	0.88	14	4
67^th	Irene - Wakonda School District 13-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Irene	Clay County	0.484	68	1
117^th	Iroquois School District 02-3	PK, KG-12	1	2	1	0	Iroquois	Kingsbury County	0.167	120	3
	Isna Wica Owayawa	K-8	1	0	0	0	Oglala	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
25^th	Jones County School District 37-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	Murdo	Jones County	0.718	11	14
4^th	Kadoka Area School District 35-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Kadoka	Jackson County	0.92	6	2
50^th	Kimball School District 07-2	PK, KG-12	2	1	2	0	Kimball	Brule County	0.584	38	12
15^th	Lake Preston School District 38-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Lake Preston	Kingsbury County	0.773	54	39
63^rd	Langford Area 45-5	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Langford	Marshall County	0.502		(n/a)
78^th	Lead-Deadwood School District 40-1	K-12	1	1	2	0	Lead	Lawrence County	0.416	95	17
62^nd	Lemmon School District 52-4	K-12	1	1	1	0	Lemmon	Perkins County	0.514	79	17
2^nd	Lennox School District 41-4	PK, KG-12	2	2	1	0	Lennox	Lincoln County	0.931	9	7
	Leola School District 44-2	PK, KG-12	4	1	2	0	Leola	McPherson County			(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)
105^th	Lyman School District 42-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Presho	Lyman County	0.266	92	13
58^th	Madison Central School District 39-2	K-12	1	1	1	0	Madison	Lake County	0.542	53	5
87^th	Marion School District 60-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Marion	Turner County	0.391	102	15
	Marty Indian School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Marty	Charles Mix County			(n/a)
100^th	McCook Central School District 43-7	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Salem	McCook County	0.309	88	12
113^th	McIntosh School District 15-1	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Mc Intosh	Corson County	0.183		(n/a)
126^th	McLaughlin School District 15-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Mc Laughlin	Corson County	0.01	125	1
29^th	Meade School District 46-1	PK, KG-12	8	2	1	0	Sturgis	Meade County	0.688	17	12
84^th	Menno School District 33-2	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Menno	Hutchinson County	0.399	73	11
26^th	Milbank School District 25-4	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Milbank	Grant County	0.714	24	2
34^th	Miller 29-4	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Miller	Hand County	0.666	47	13
32^nd	Mitchell School District 17-2	K-12	6	1	2	0	Mitchell	Davison County	0.67	41	9
54^th	Mobridge-Pollock 62-6	K-12	2	1	1	0	Mobridge	Walworth County	0.562	58	4
22^nd	Montrose School District 43-2	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Montrose	McCook County	0.72	21	1
14^th	Mount Vernon School District 17-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Mount Vernon	Davison County	0.812	18	4
92^nd	New Underwood School District 51-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	New Underwood	Pennington County	0.363	91	1
85^th	Newell School District 09-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Newell	Butte County	0.397	113	28
40^th	Northwestern Area School District 56-7	PK, KG-12	2	2	2	0	Mellette	Spink County	0.625	59	19
	Oelrichs School District 23-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Oelrichs	Fall River County			(n/a)
	Oglala Lakota County 65-1	PK, KG-12	4	0	2	0	Batesland	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
	Oldham-Ramona-Rutland 39-6	PK, KG-12	3	1	2	0	Rutland	Lake County			(n/a)
	Pahin Sinte Owayawa	K-8	1	0	0	0	Porcupine	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
90^th	Parker School District 60-4	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Parker	Turner County	0.382	72	18
	Parkston School District 33-3	PK, KG-12	3	1	3	0	Parkston	Hutchinson County			(n/a)
	Pierre Indian Learning Center	1-8	1	0	0	0	Pierre	Hughes County			(n/a)
23^rd	Pierre School District 32-2	K-12	3	1	1	0	Pierre	Hughes County	0.718	43	20
	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)
42^nd	Platte - Geddes School District 11-5	K-12	3	1	1	0	Platte	Charles Mix County	0.617	27	15
99^th	Rapid City Area School District 51-4	PK, KG-12	15	5	4	2	Rapid City	Pennington County	0.31	98	1
71^st	Redfield School District 56-4	PK, KG-12	1	2	3	0	Redfield	Spink County	0.45	108	37
	Rock Creek Grant School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Bullhead	Corson County			(n/a)
103^rd	Rosholt School District 54-4	K-12	2	1	1	0	Rosholt	Roberts County	0.28	89	14
61^st	Sanborn Central School District 55-5	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Forestburg	Sanborn County	0.527	26	35
	School District School For The Blind & Visually Impaired	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Aberdeen	Brown County			(n/a)
101^st	Scotland School District 04-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Scotland	Bon Homme County	0.298	112	11
38^th	Selby Area School District 62-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Selby	Walworth County	0.626	42	4
72^nd	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	PK, KG-12	26	7	8	3	Sioux Falls	Minnehaha County	0.449	82	10
35^th	Sioux Valley School District 05-5	K-12	1	1	1	0	Volga	Brookings County	0.663	46	11
119^th	Sisseton School District 54-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Sisseton	Roberts County	0.159	119
114^th	Smee School District 15-3	K-12	1	1	1	0	Wakpala	Corson County	0.179	116	2
	South Central 26-5	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Bonesteel	Gregory County			(n/a)
	Spearfish School District 40-2	K-12	3	2	2	0	Spearfish	Lawrence County			(n/a)
	St. Francis Indian School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Saint Francis	Todd County			(n/a)
106^th	Stanley County School District 57-1	K-12	2	1	1	0	Fort Pierre	Stanley County	0.265	105	1
112^th	Summit School District 54-6	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Summit	Roberts County	0.207	86	26
	Takini School	K-12	0	0	0	1	Howes	Meade County			(n/a)
37^th	Tea Area School District 41-5	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Tea	Lincoln County	0.639	19	18
6^th	Timber Lake School District 20-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Timber Lake	Dewey County	0.903	5	1
	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)
	Todd County School District 66-1	K-12	8	2	2	1	Mission	Todd County			(n/a)
	Tripp-Delmont School District 33-5	PK, KG-12	3	1	1	0	Tripp	Hutchinson County			(n/a)
65^th	Tri-Valley School District 49-6	K-12	2	1	1	0	Colton	Minnehaha County	0.492	48	17
64^th	Vermillion School District 13-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Vermillion	Clay County	0.496	65	1
82^nd	Viborg-Hurley School District 60-6	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Viborg	Turner County	0.407	76	6
95^th	Wagner Community School District 11-4	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	Wagner	Charles Mix County	0.355	96	1
57^th	Wall School District 51-5	K-12	2	1	1	0	Wall	Pennington County	0.543	80	23
1^st	Warner School District 06-5	K-12	1	1	1	0	Warner	Brown County	0.979	1
56^th	Watertown School District 14-4	PK, KG-12	6	2	1	0	Watertown	Codington County	0.554	36	20
53^rd	Waubay School District 18-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Waubay	Day County	0.572	81	28
116^th	Waverly School District 14-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Waverly	Codington County	0.169	109	7
24^th	Webster Area 18-5	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Webster	Day County	0.718	16	8
	Wessington Springs School District 36-2	PK, KG-12	3	2	2	0	Wessington Springs	Jerauld County			(n/a)
59^th	West Central School District 49-7	K-12	2	1	3	0	Hartford	Minnehaha County	0.539	23	36
	White Lake School District 01-3	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	White Lake	Aurora County			(n/a)
123^rd	White River School District 47-1	PK, KG-12	2	1	1	0	White River	Mellette County	0.073	123
	Willow Lake School District 12-3	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Willow Lake	Clark County			(n/a)
120^th	Wilmot School District 54-7	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Wilmot	Roberts County	0.154	118	2
108^th	Winner School District 59-2	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Winner	Tripp County	0.262	111	3
98^th	Wolsey Wessington School District 02-6	PK, KG-12	1	1	1	0	Wolsey	Beadle County	0.319	117	19
96^th	Woonsocket School District 55-4	PK, KG-12	1	0	1	0	Woonsocket	Sanborn County	0.351	77	19
	Wounded Knee District School	K-8	1	0	0	0	Manderson	Oglala Lakota County			(n/a)
60^th	Yankton School District 63-3	PK, KG-12	4	1	1	0	Yankton	Yankton County	0.534	60

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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 17, 2024, 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:

State-Administered Standardized Tests: A Comprehensive Guide

Public School Districts and Their Services: A Comprehensive Guide

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.