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
51	Tea Area Middle School - 02	Public	6-8	515 W Brian St	Tea	57064	Lincoln County	Tea Area School District 41-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 498-2700	583	31	19	21.8%	469 (80.4%)	29 (5.0%)	37 (6.3%)	5 (0.9%)	12 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	31 (5.3%)	$9,888			$292			$9,596	69.8	59.3	56	5		460005200853
52	Webster Area Middle School - 02	Public	6-8	733 E 2nd St	Webster	57274	Day County	Webster Area School District 18-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 345-4651	108	8	14.1	25.9%	98 (90.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.8%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.7%)	$12,217			$374			$11,843	69.6	63.5	44	8		467699000947
53	Rockport Colony Elementary- 10	Public	K-8	25209 Rockport Rd	Alexandria	57311	Hanson County	Mitchell School District 17-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 239-4214	12	1	9		12 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,839			$1,826			$12,014	69.4			(n/a)		464839000444
54	Chester Middle School - 03	Public	6-8	102 2nd Ave	Chester	57016	Lake County	Chester Area School District 39-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 489-2411	67	6	11.2	19.4%	62 (92.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.5%)	$13,142			$417			$12,725	69.4	49	80	26		461230000832
55	Abbott House Elementary - 06	Public	K-8	909 Court Merrill St	Mitchell	57301	Davison County	Mitchell School District 17-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 996-2486	13	4	3	38.5%	5 (38.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (53.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (7.7%)								69.3			(n/a)		464839001338
56	Irene - Wakonda Junior High - 04	Public	7-8	130 E State St	Irene	57037	Turner County	Irene - Wakonda School District 13-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 263-3313	46	3	14.1	26.1%	41 (89.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (4.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (4.3%)	$12,740			$151			$12,589	69	44.5	91	35		468043901253
57	Watertown Middle School - 02	Public	7-8	1700 11th St NE	Watertown	57201	Codington County	Watertown School District 14-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 882-6370	575	39	14.8	35.0%	473 (82.3%)	2 (0.3%)	41 (7.1%)	2 (0.3%)	19 (3.3%)	0 (0.0%)	38 (6.6%)	$10,878			$410			$10,468	69	69.8	30	27		467662000718
58	Deerfield Colony Elementary - 05	Public	PK, KG-8	12434 364th Ave	Leola	57456	Edmunds County	Ipswich Public School District 22-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 426-6832	26	2	11.7		26 (100.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,597			$263			$13,334	68.9			(n/a)		463606001085
59	Mitchell Middle School - 02	Public	6-8	800 W 10th Ave	Mitchell	57301	Davison County	Mitchell School District 17-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 995-3051	578	40	14.3	40.0%	449 (77.7%)	1 (0.2%)	65 (11.2%)	1 (0.2%)	43 (7.4%)	0 (0.0%)	19 (3.3%)	$11,301			$393			$10,908	68.6	69.7	31	28		464839000437
60	Baltic Middle School - 03	Public	6-8	1 Bulldog Ave	Baltic	57003	Minnehaha County	Baltic School District 49-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 529-5461	110	8	13.4	19.1%	100 (90.9%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.7%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (2.7%)	$10,459			$361			$10,099	68.5	57.1	60			460468000986

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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:

A high school boy doing homework on a laptop

Virtual Schools: The Future of Online Education

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

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.