Best High Schools in South Dakota for Special Education 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, Special Education 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 17, 2024.

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

School															Students/Teachers											Per Pupil Expenditures (2023)							Ranking (Special Education vs All Students - 2024)
ID	Rank (of 19)	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 (Special Education)	Statewide Rank Percentile (All Students)	Rank Percentile Difference from All Students	SchoolDigger Rating (Special Education)	SchoolDigger Rating (All Students)
460005201235	1	Tea Area High School - 03	Public	9-12	500 W Brian St	Tea	57064	Lincoln County	Tea Area School District 41-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 498-2700	670	35	18.9	16.7%	567 (84.6%)	25 (3.7%)	35 (5.2%)	6 (0.9%)	5 (0.7%)	1 (0.1%)	31 (4.6%)	$9,422			$452			$8,969	94.7%	51.8%	42.96%
460852000082	2	Brookings High School - 01	Public	9-12	530 Elm Ave	Brookings	57006	Brookings County	Brookings School District 05-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 696-4100	1,028	60	17.2	16.2%	809 (78.7%)	33 (3.2%)	82 (8.0%)	35 (3.4%)	19 (1.8%)	1 (0.1%)	49 (4.8%)	$10,549			$655			$9,893	89.5%	53.2%	36.28%
466993000633	3	Sturgis Brown High School - 01	Public	9-12	12930 E Hwy 34	Sturgis	57785	Meade County	Meade School District 46-1	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 347-2686	839	51	16.5	19.8%	740 (88.2%)	2 (0.2%)	36 (4.3%)	2 (0.2%)	15 (1.8%)	0 (0.0%)	44 (5.2%)	$8,709			$372			$8,336	84.2%	78.0%	6.20%
466627000610	4	Washington High School - 01	Public	9-12	501 N Sycamore Ave	Sioux Falls	57110	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 367-7970	1,859	124	15	39.5%	874 (47.0%)	391 (21.0%)	305 (16.4%)	105 (5.6%)	62 (3.3%)	5 (0.3%)	117 (6.3%)	$10,825			$1,087			$9,739	78.9%	68.8%	10.15%
464839000442	5	Mitchell High School - 01	Public	9-12	920 N Capital St	Mitchell	57301	Davison County	Mitchell School District 17-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 995-3034	909	51	17.8	24.9%	734 (80.7%)	10 (1.1%)	72 (7.9%)	8 (0.9%)	52 (5.7%)	0 (0.0%)	33 (3.6%)	$10,148			$410			$9,738	73.7%	54.6%	19.07%
466627000600	6	Lincoln High School - 02	Public	9-12	2900 S Cliff Ave	Sioux Falls	57105	Minnehaha County	Sioux Falls School District 49-5	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 367-7990	1,934	118	16.3	25.8%	1,324 (68.5%)	148 (7.7%)	234 (12.1%)	37 (1.9%)	82 (4.2%)	2 (0.1%)	107 (5.5%)	$10,760			$1,084			$9,676	68.4%	92.2%	23.78%
460636000048	7	Beresford High School - 01	Public	9-12	301 W Maple St	Beresford	57004	Union County	Beresford School District 61-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 763-2145	219	15	14.4	14.2%	199 (90.9%)	1 (0.5%)	15 (6.8%)	0 (0.0%)	1 (0.5%)	0 (0.0%)	3 (1.4%)	$10,788			$116			$10,672	63.2%	41.1%	22.02%
460795000071	8	Brandon Valley High School - 01	Public	9-12	301 S Splitrock Blvd	Brandon	57005	Minnehaha County	Brandon Valley School District 49-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 582-3211	1,356	67	20.3	10.3%	1,170 (86.3%)	53 (3.9%)	51 (3.8%)	27 (2.0%)	11 (0.8%)	1 (0.1%)	43 (3.2%)	$8,969			$303			$8,666	57.9%	95.7%	37.85%
466693000623	8	Spearfish High School - 01	Public	9-12	1725 N Main	Spearfish	57783	Lawrence County	Spearfish School District 40-2	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 717-1212	771	45	17.1	14.0%	663 (86.0%)	10 (1.3%)	36 (4.7%)	13 (1.7%)	23 (3.0%)	1 (0.1%)	25 (3.2%)	$8,354			$336			$8,018	57.9%	58.9%	0.97%
467662000717	10	Watertown High School - 01	Public	9-12	200 NE 9th St	Watertown	57201	Codington County	Watertown School District 14-4	(n/a)	(n/a)	No	No	(605) 882-6316	1,222	72	16.8	21.0%	1,027 (84.0%)	5 (0.4%)	76 (6.2%)	10 (0.8%)	46 (3.8%)	0 (0.0%)	58 (4.7%)	$8,853			$762			$8,091	47.4%	46.8%	0.56%

Sign up for updates!

Be the first to know when we update our rankings!

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 Hispanic Students Native American Students White Students Multi-racial Students Low Socio Economic Status 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 17, 2024, 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:

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

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): Transforming Education in America

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.