Summary:
Zip code 57461 has one high school, Northwestern High School - 01, serving grades 9–12. Its 91 students and 11.8 student–teacher ratio provide context for the results. In 2025–2026, the school’s graduation rate was 68%—3 percentage points above the district’s 65% but 20 points below the state’s 88%—while its reported dropout rate was 0%, compared with 13% for the district and 2% for the state. The main takeaway is mixed academic performance: results were above the state on the earlier assessment snapshot but below it on the later one.
With just one school in the area, there are no other local schools to rank above or below it; within the school, English Language Arts (ELA) was strongest and mathematics weakest on both assessments. In 2024–2025 Smarter Balanced results, ELA was 89%, science 59%, and math 44%; all three exceeded state results, by 25, 10, and 8 percentage points, respectively. In 2025–2026 SD ACT results, ELA was 42%, science 33%, and math 20%; all were below the state, by 7, 12, and 14 points. Averaged across the three subjects, the school was 15 points above the state on Smarter Balanced and 11 points below on the SD ACT. Mathematics is the clearest area of concern in both snapshots.
SchoolDigger’s statewide ranking history also shows a sharp recent decline: the school ranked 16th of 141 schools, at the 89th percentile, in 2023–2024; 20th of 166, at the 88th percentile, in 2024–2025; and 115th of 130, at the 12th percentile, in 2025–2026—a 76-point percentile drop from the prior year. Its current SchoolDigger district ranking is 81st of 126, at the 36th percentile. The school reported that 14% of students were free/reduced lunch eligible in 2024–2025. That and the student–teacher ratio are useful context, not explanations for performance. There is only one school to compare, and the two assessment snapshots are from different years and exams, so they do not establish a direct test-score trend.
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