Summary:
The 57754 zip code is home to a single middle school, Lead-Deadwood Middle School - 02, which serves grades 6-8. While the school has a relatively low student-teacher ratio and higher per-student spending compared to the state average, its academic performance has been declining in recent years, with proficiency rates in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science falling below the state averages.
Lead-Deadwood Middle School - 02 has seen its statewide ranking drop from 64th out of 147 South Dakota middle schools in 2023-2024 to 140th out of 246 in 2024-2025. The school's proficiency rates on Smarter Balanced Assessments were 43.16% in ELA and 36.69% in Math, compared to the state averages of 50.93% and 43.49%, respectively. Additionally, the school's 8th-grade science proficiency rate was 34.15%, lower than the state average of 42.51%. These performance challenges may be exacerbated by the school's high chronic absenteeism rate of 20.2%.
While the Lead-Deadwood School District 40-1 spends more per student than the state average, the middle school's academic outcomes are not keeping pace with the district or state. This raises questions about the effectiveness of the school's resource allocation and the factors contributing to the underperformance, which may require further investigation to identify areas for improvement.
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