Summary:
ZIP code 57252 has four schools in Milbank School District 25-4, serving grades PK–12 overall: two elementary schools, a middle school, a high school and Blue Sky Colony, which serves K–8 and has 10 students. The two Milbank schools with reported all-grades results are above state averages in ELA and math, but the clearest concern is that their advantage over the state narrowed sharply from 2024–25 to 2025–26.
Milbank Middle School leads reported all-grades ELA at 56%, 7 percentage points above the state and ahead of Milbank Elementary at 50%, 1 point above the state. Elementary leads in all-grades math, with 49% compared with the middle school’s 48%; both exceed the state result by 5 and 4 points, respectively. Grade-level results add important contrasts: elementary fifth-grade science is 13 points above its state benchmark, while fourth-grade math is 12 points below; middle eighth-grade math is 12 points above state, but sixth-grade math is 1 point below. Blue Sky Colony had the lowest last-available results: in 2024–25, ELA was 29%, math 14% and science 0%, each below the state. Milbank High School combines a 95% graduation rate—7 points above state—with 11th-grade ACT proficiency below state by 2 points in ELA, 6 in math and 9 in science.
Results declined at the two Milbank schools with comparable all-grades results: ELA fell 14 points at elementary and 7 at middle, while math fell 9 and 3 points. Their average advantage over state narrowed from 13 to 4 points in ELA and from 11 to 5 in math. SchoolDigger’s 2025–26 statewide rankings place middle at the 63rd percentile, elementary at the 54th and high school at the 28th; Blue Sky’s latest listing is at the 17th percentile in 2024–25. For context, 2024–25 free/reduced lunch eligible rates were 39% at elementary, 27% at middle and 29% at high school; student-teacher ratios were 11.9, 12.9 and 12.2, respectively. Blue Sky’s 2025–26 test figures are suppressed, so its earlier scores do not establish its current standing.
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