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.

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 166)	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
1	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	85	8	10.9	9.4%	79 (92.9%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (3.5%)	$11,260			$65			$11,195	97.5	95.1	2	1		467602000709
2	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	96	10	9.9	12.5%	92 (95.8%)	1 (1.0%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$18,296			$426			$17,870	97.4	95.5	1	1		460002500305
3	Baltic High School - 01	Public	9-12	1 Bulldog Ave	Baltic	57003	Minnehaha County	Baltic School District 49-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 529-5461	151	11	14.1	11.9%	132 (87.4%)	2 (1.3%)	7 (4.6%)	2 (1.3%)	3 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.3%)	$17,138			$1,798			$15,340	96.3	89.1	10	7		460468000036
4	Ipswich High School - 01	Public	9-12	510 2nd Ave	Ipswich	57451	Edmunds County	Ipswich Public School District 22-6	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 426-6571	103	7	14.2	15.5%	101 (98.1%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.0%)	$12,096			$263			$11,833	93.8	77.5	27	23		463606000333
5	Highmore High School - 01	Public	9-12	415 Iowa Ave S	Highmore	57345	Hyde County	Highmore-Harrold School District 34-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 852-2275	62	8	7.6	12.9%	52 (83.9%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.6%)	1 (1.6%)	7 (11.3%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.6%)	$17,404			$609			$16,795	92.1	70.2	37	32		468044000324
6	Hill City High School - 01	Public	9-12	488 Main St	Hill City	57745	Pennington County	Hill City School District 51-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 574-3000	158	12	13	19.0%	113 (71.5%)	0 (0.0%)	28 (17.7%)	3 (1.9%)	4 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	10 (6.3%)	$13,444			$316			$13,128	91.8	78.2	25	19		463336000280
7	Centerville High School - 01	Public	9-12	610 Lincoln St	Centerville	57014	Turner County	Centerville School District 60-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 563-2291	94	7	13	10.6%	91 (96.8%)	1 (1.1%)	2 (2.1%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	$13,999			$421			$13,579	90.9	67.9	41	34		461176000116
8	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	71	9	7.5	33.8%	45 (63.4%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	22 (31.0%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (5.6%)	$21,032			$6,455			$14,577	90.3	89.7	8			468043701247
9	Parkston High School - 01	Public	9-12	102A S Chapman Dr	Parkston	57366	Hutchinson County	Parkston School District 33-3	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 928-3368	112	11	9.9	24.1%	101 (90.2%)	2 (1.8%)	5 (4.5%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (1.8%)	$15,111			$863			$14,248	88.4	66.4	43	34		465430000492
10	Elk Point-Jefferson High School - 01	Public	9-12	402 S Douglas St	Elk Point	57025	Union County	Elk Point-Jefferson School District 61-7	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 356-5901	212	15	13.6	15.1%	195 (92.0%)	0 (0.0%)	9 (4.2%)	1 (0.5%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	6 (2.8%)	$14,603			$660			$13,943	86.4	91.1	5	5		462134000186

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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 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:

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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.