Best Middle Schools in South Dakota

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Find the best South Dakota middle schools with SchoolDigger.com! Focused on test scores for accurate rankings, our user-friendly site simplifies your search. Empower your decisions by exploring top-rated schools, only on SchoolDigger.com - the ultimate guide to K-12 schools!

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 Smarter Balanced Assessments test scores by the South Dakota Department of Education. The most recent update was on Thursday, October 30, 2025.

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School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)							Ranking (2025 vs 2024)					ID
Rank (of 246)	School	Type	Grades	Address	City	Zip	County	District	Is Charter	Is Magnet	Is Virtual	Is Title I	Phone	# Students	Full-time Teachers	Student/ Teacher Ratio	Free/Disc Lunch Recipients	White	Black	Hispanic	Asian	American Indian	Pacific Islander	Two or More Races	Per Pupil Expenditures: Total	Personnel from Federal Funds	Non-Personnel from Federal Funds	Total from Federal Funds	Personnel from State and Local Funds	Non-Personnel from State and Local Funds	Total from State and Local Funds	Average Standard Score (2025)	Average Standard Score (2024)	Rank (2024)	Rank Change from 2024	SchoolDigger Rating (2025)	ID
61	Georgia Morse Middle School - 02	Public	6-8	309 E Capitol Ave	Pierre	57501	Hughes County	Pierre School District 32-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 773-7330	672	39	17.3	29.0%	462 (68.8%)	2 (0.3%)	31 (4.6%)	7 (1.0%)	101 (15.0%)	0 (0.0%)	69 (10.3%)	$10,552			$543			$10,009	68.2	65.8	37	24		465526000501
62	Canton Middle School - 04	Public	6-8	800 N Main St	Canton	57013	Lincoln County	Canton School District 41-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 764-2706	194	14	13.9	21.6%	180 (92.8%)	3 (1.5%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	5 (2.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.1%)	$12,308			$00			$12,308	68.2	68.6	33	29		461056000831
63	Bridgewater-Emery Middle School - 04	Public	6-8	130 N 6th St	Emery	57332	Hanson County	Bridgewater-Emery 30-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 449-4271	85	6	13.4	25.9%	77 (90.6%)	1 (1.2%)	3 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (4.7%)	$13,117			$112			$13,005	67.9	61.8	51	12		462142000902
64	Philip Junior High - 03	Public	6-8	330 Scottie Ave	Philip	57567	Haakon County	Haakon School District 27-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 859-2680	71	4	18.8	25.4%	64 (90.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.4%)	1 (1.4%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (7.0%)	$12,079			$758			$11,320	67.6	49.2	79	15		463049000247
65	Holgate Middle School - 02	Public	6-8	2200 N Dakota St	Aberdeen	57401	Brown County	Aberdeen School District 06-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 725-7700	497	34	14.4	31.2%	376 (75.7%)	6 (1.2%)	30 (6.0%)	17 (3.4%)	25 (5.0%)	5 (1.0%)	38 (7.6%)	$11,438			$325			$11,114	67.5	69.7	32	33		460207000005
66	Sioux Valley Middle School - 04	Public	6-8	200 Hansina Ave	Volga	57071	Brookings County	Sioux Valley School District 05-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 627-5657	156	12	12.6	14.1%	143 (91.7%)	1 (0.6%)	5 (3.2%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.6%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (3.8%)	$10,693			$15			$10,679	67.3	58.5	58	8		466630000613
67	Wall Middle School - 06	Public	6-8	401 S Blvd W	Wall	57790	Pennington County	Wall School District 51-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 279-2156	66	6	11.1	27.3%	48 (72.7%)	2 (3.0%)	1 (1.5%)	1 (1.5%)	7 (10.6%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (10.6%)	$14,133			$1,144			$12,989	67.2	61.7	52	15		467566001057
68	Longvalley Elementary - 10	Public	K-8	26840 SD Hwy 73	Long Valley	57547	Jackson County	Kadoka Area School District 35-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 837-2173	22	4	5	13.6%	12 (54.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (45.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$17,582			$6,648			$10,935	66.8			(n/a)		468043701256
69	Groton Area Middle School - 04	Public	6-8	502 N 2nd St	Groton	57445	Brown County	Groton Area School District 06-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 397-8381	132	10	12.9	18.9%	123 (93.2%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.5%)	$10,504			$00			$10,504	66.8	64.1	42	27		460004501157
70	Hamlin Middle School - 02	Public	6-8	44577 188th St	Hayti	57241	Hamlin County	Hamlin School District 28-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 783-3644	198	10	19	30.3%	183 (92.4%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (6.6%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.0%)	$7,441			$40			$7,401	66.7	63.4	45	25		463080000259

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for South Dakota

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for SD student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Asian Students African American Students Hispanic Students Native American Students Pacific Islander Students White Students Multi-racial Students English Language Learner Students Special Education Students Low Socio Economic Status Students Migrant Students Homeless Students Foster Care Students Military Connected Students

About our rankings:

Schooldigger calculates school rankings based on Smarter Balanced Assessments English Language Arts, Smarter Balanced Assessments Mathematics, Smarter Balanced Assessments Science 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:

High school students working on a science experiment

Magnet Schools: Unleashing the Power of Education

Student-Teacher Ratios and their Impact on Class Sizes & School Selection

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.