Best Elementary Schools in South Dakota for Military Connected Students

Check out our new feature available only on SchoolDigger: rankings for different groups of students in South Dakota!

Every year, the South Dakota Department of Education shares test results for various student groups in each school. We use these results to find out which schools do best for each group and list them from the best to the worst.

Additionally, we also compare the performance of the subgroup to the performance of the school as a whole. This makes it easy to see if, for example, Military Connected students are overperforming or underperforming their peers in each school.

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.

Be the first to know when we post new test scores and rankings!

School														Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2025)							Ranking (Military Connected vs All Students - 2025)					ID
Rank (of 58)	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	Statewide Rank Percentile (Military Connected)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Military Connected)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)	ID
1	Philip Elementary - 02	Public	K-5	330 Scottie Ave	Philip	57567	Haakon County	Haakon School District 27-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 859-2001	131	10	12.5	25.2%	115 (87.8%)	1 (0.8%)	2 (1.5%)	0 (0.0%)	8 (6.1%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.8%)	$13,613			$1,323			$12,290	98.3%	61.0%	37.28%			463049000255
2	Inspiration Elementary - 08	Public	K-4	3401 S Sparta Ave	Sioux Falls	57110	Minnehaha County	Brandon Valley School District 49-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 582-5890	345	23	14.8	25.2%	237 (68.7%)	38 (11.0%)	30 (8.7%)	19 (5.5%)	8 (2.3%)	0 (0.0%)	13 (3.8%)	$10,409			$242			$10,167	96.6%	97.3%	0.78%			460795001416
2	Lennox Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-4	305 W 5th Ave	Lennox	57039	Lincoln County	Lennox School District 41-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 647-2203	362	21	16.8	20.4%	320 (88.4%)	0 (0.0%)	15 (4.1%)	1 (0.3%)	9 (2.5%)	0 (0.0%)	17 (4.7%)	$11,073			$509			$10,564	96.6%	94.7%	1.89%			464155000386
4	Colman Elementary - 03	Public	PK, KG-6	200 S Loban Ave	Colman	57017	Moody County	Colman-Egan School District 50-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 534-3534	193	14	13.7	23.3%	154 (79.8%)	1 (0.5%)	18 (9.3%)	1 (0.5%)	7 (3.6%)	1 (0.5%)	11 (5.7%)	$12,028			$803			$11,224	93.1%	62.7%	30.44%			461410000093
4	Eugene Field A+ Elementary - 16	Public	K-5	501 S Highland Ave	Sioux Falls	57103	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 367-6160	444	27	16.2	46.6%	300 (67.6%)	32 (7.2%)	38 (8.6%)	4 (0.9%)	10 (2.3%)	2 (0.5%)	58 (13.1%)	$10,649			$591			$10,058	93.1%	56.0%	37.10%			466627000585
4	Lyman Elementary - 04	Public	PK, KG-5	411 E 2nd St	Kennebec	57544	Lyman County	Lyman School District 42-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 869-2213	171	19	9	55.0%	88 (51.5%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	76 (44.4%)	0 (0.0%)	7 (4.1%)	$21,642			$5,460			$16,182	93.1%	44.0%	49.10%			464477000728
4	Whitewood Elementary - 04	Public	PK, KG-5	603 Garfield St	Whitewood	57793	Lawrence County	Meade School District 46-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 269-2264	138	10	13.5	47.1%	125 (90.6%)	1 (0.7%)	3 (2.2%)	0 (0.0%)	5 (3.6%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.9%)	$13,288			$1,441			$11,847	93.1%	97.0%	3.90%			466993000652
8	Sonia Sotomayor Elementary - 65	Public	PK, KG-5	1510 S Lake Ave	Sioux Falls	57105	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 367-4655	690	38	18.1	14.1%	514 (74.5%)	7 (1.0%)	121 (17.5%)	3 (0.4%)	4 (0.6%)	1 (0.1%)	40 (5.8%)	$11,008			$567			$10,441	86.2%	96.0%	9.79%			466627001344
9	Canistota Elementary - 02	Public	PK, KG-5	431 4th Ave	Canistota	57012	McCook County	Canistota School District 43-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 296-3458	141	13	10.6	28.4%	121 (85.8%)	1 (0.7%)	4 (2.8%)	1 (0.7%)	10 (7.1%)	0 (0.0%)	4 (2.8%)	$15,124			$534			$14,591	84.5%	82.0%	2.48%			461032000104
9	Sanborn Central Elementary - 06	Public	PK, KG-5	40405 SD Hwy 34	Forestburg	57314	Sanborn County	Sanborn Central School District 55-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	Yes	(605) 495-4183	102	9	11.2	19.6%	95 (93.1%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (2.0%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (1.0%)	4 (3.9%)	$14,040			$598			$13,442	84.5%	75.7%	8.82%			460393201162

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Other SchoolDigger ranking lists for South Dakota

Elementary Schools Middle Schools High Schools Districts Cities

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

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:

Alternative Schools vs Public Schools: A Comparison

Per-Pupil Spending: Understanding the Breakdown of Federal, State, and Local Funds

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.