Summary:
Zip code 57658 has one elementary school, Wakpala Elementary - 02, serving kindergarten through grade five and enrolling 95 students. Its 2025–2026 results show a clear difference by subject: 70% were proficient in English language arts (ELA), compared with 49% statewide, while 30% were proficient in math, compared with 44% statewide. The most important finding is that ELA is a strong point relative to the state, while math remains well below it.
Because this is the only school in the area, there are no other local schools to rank at the top or bottom. Compared with South Dakota, Wakpala’s all-grades ELA result was 21 percentage points higher, while its math result was 14 points lower. Grade-level results highlight the contrast: third-grade ELA was 82%, or 38 points above the state, while fourth-grade math was 18%, or 30 points below it. ELA was above the state in each of the three reported grades; math was below the state in all three. Fifth-grade science was also below the state in 2025–2026, at 27% versus 41%.
Results improved in both ELA and math from 2024–2025 to 2025–2026, but the gains were larger in ELA: proficiency rose 18 points in ELA and 2 points in math. ELA moved from nearly matching the state to 21 points above it; math’s shortfall narrowed by 2 points but remained substantial. Fifth-grade science improved by 4 points, and its gap with the state narrowed by 3 points. SchoolDigger ranked Wakpala at the 37th percentile in 2025–2026, compared with the 17th percentile in 2023–2024; the number of schools in the rankings changed between years. The student-teacher ratio was 9.7 in 2024–2025, and all students receive free meals through Community Eligibility (CEP) in 2024–2025. These are context measures, not explanations for results; with just one school listed, the data cannot support comparisons among local schools.
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