Best High Schools in South Dakota

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Find the best South Dakota high 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.

Alert! We are expecting the release of this year's test scores by the South Dakota Department of Education any day now! We will update our rankings as soon as they are released!

Alert! New test scores and rankings are expected from the South Dakota Department of Education any day now!

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2021)							Ranking (2023 vs 2022)
ID	Rank (of 138)	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 (2023)	Average Standard Score (2022)	Rank (2022)	Rank Change from 2022	SchoolDigger Rating (2023)
464878000452	1	Montrose High School - 01	Public	9-12	309 S Church Ave	Montrose	57048	McCook County	Montrose School District 43-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 363-5025	59	6	10.4	20.3%	56 (94.9%)	1 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.7%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.7%)	$12,700			$671			$12,029	97.7	36.4	97	96
460393200099	2	Sanborn Central High School - 01	Public	9-12	40405 SD Hwy 34	Forestburg	57314	Sanborn County	Sanborn Central School District 55-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 495-4183	40	7	6	25.0%	36 (90.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (7.5%)	1 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$15,558			$860			$14,698	96.8	92.5	3	1
467188000665	3	Timber Lake High School - 01	Public	9-12	500 Main St	Timber Lake	57656	Dewey County	Timber Lake School District 20-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 865-3654	113	11	10.3	31.0%	56 (49.6%)	1 (0.9%)	1 (0.9%)	0 (0.0%)	55 (48.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$14,641			$1,543			$13,098	95.2	88.4	9	6
460264000017	4	Hanson High School - 01	Public	9-12	230 6th St	Alexandria	57311	Hanson County	Hanson School District 30-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 239-4387	131	8	16.1	12.2%	121 (92.4%)	1 (0.8%)	2 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.8%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (4.6%)	$8,396			$350			$8,046	93.5	77	27	23
460002500305	5	Howard High School - 01	Public	9-12	500 N Section Line	Howard	57349	Miner County	Howard School District 48-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 772-5515	110	10	11.1	8.2%	105 (95.5%)	2 (1.8%)	2 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.9%)	$13,806			$906			$12,900	93.2	90.4	7	2
462250000194	6	Ethan High School - 01	Public	9-12	320 S 2nd St	Ethan	57334	Davison County	Ethan School District 17-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 227-4211	87	8	11.3	14.9%	81 (93.1%)	1 (1.1%)	2 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.4%)	$13,279			$280			$12,999	92.6	92.4	4	2
468043701247	7	Kadoka Area High School - 01	Public	9-12	800 Bayberry St	Kadoka	57543	Jackson County	Kadoka Area School District 35-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 837-2172	75	8	9.5	26.7%	48 (64.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	24 (32.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (4.0%)	$19,572			$6,370			$13,202	92.3	76.8	28	21
467602000709	8	Warner High School - 01	Public	9-12	110 1st Ave SW	Warner	57479	Brown County	Warner School District 06-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 225-6194	87	8	11.2	9.2%	83 (95.4%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.1%)	$8,601			$00			$8,601	92.2	89.7	8
460795000071	9	Brandon Valley High School - 01	Public	9-12	301 S Splitrock Blvd	Brandon	57005	Minnehaha County	Brandon Valley School District 49-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 582-3211	1,345	64	21.1	10.7%	1,181 (87.8%)	50 (3.7%)	41 (3.0%)	21 (1.6%)	7 (0.5%)	2 (0.1%)	43 (3.2%)	$7,649			$242			$7,407	89.2	92.2	5	4
460427000029	10	Avon High School - 01	Public	9-12	210 Pine St	Avon	57315	Bon Homme County	Avon School District 04-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 286-3291	83	8	10.6	25.3%	75 (90.4%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (4.8%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.2%)	$13,030			$482			$12,548	89.2	38	95	85

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New! SchoolDigger ranking lists for SD student subgroups:

Female Students Male Students Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students Low Socio Economic Status 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 16, 2023, 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:

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

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Virtual Schools: The Future of Online 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.