NCES CCD 2024-25 26 schools SD

Best-Resourced Schools in Rapid City, SD

Compiled from official source data by .

26 public K-12 schools in Rapid City from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
26
Schools
12,710
Students
33.2/100
Avg Resource Index
17.3:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Lean reported-resource profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Rapid City has more public-school enrollment than 86% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Rapid City's average Resource Investment Index falls in the lower portion of the 4,487-city comparison set. The index is a resource snapshot, not an academic grade: it reflects the federal staffing, counselor, gifted-program, and attendance fields available for local campuses. The most useful next step is to open the individual schools below and identify which component is pulling each score down, because the same city average can hide very different campus-level constraints.

A full K–12 ladder sits inside the city boundary

Rapid City's list includes 10 elementary, 5 middle, and 5 high-school campuses, plus 6 combined-grade records. The city average spans every major grade stage, so the ranked table is more informative when read within level than as one interchangeable queue.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 45-point gap between Jefferson Building - 64 and Rapid City Online High School - 92 shows the range hidden by Rapid City's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 14%
School count
Top 10%
Resource Index average
20th percentile
Teacher staffing
31st percentile

Central High School - 41 accounts for 15.7% of all Rapid City public-school enrollment

That concentration means Rapid City-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Rapid City school enrollment varies 285× across entities

Rapid City school enrollment ranges from 7 students (lowest) to 1,998 students (highest), a spread of 1,991 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Rapid City operates one school district — a single-district system

Rapid City's listed schools share one district boundary, budget authority, and reporting chain. That makes citywide and districtwide governance easier to compare, but it does not make individual campuses uniform: grade configuration, staffing, programs, and student need can still vary materially within the same school district.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Rapid City student-teacher ratio is 17.3:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Rapid City is typically wider than the Rapid City-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Jefferson Building - 64 55
2. Wellfully - 65 51
3. Pinedale Elementary - 11 47
4. South Canyon Elementary - 15 47
5. Grandview Elementary - 06 45
6. Lincoln Building - 44 42
7. Valley View Elementary - 13 41
8. Rapid City High School - 45 39
9. Robbinsdale Elementary - 14 38
10. Corral Drive Elementary - 21 36
11. Meadowbrook Elementary - 10 35
12. North Middle School - 35 35
13. Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 35
14. Canyon Lake Elementary - 04 33
15. Knollwood Heights Elementary - 08 32
16. Southwest Middle School - 38 31
17. Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 31
18. Horace Mann Elementary - 07 30
19. West Middle School - 37 27
20. South Park Elementary - 16 26
21. East Middle School - 30 24
22. South Middle School - 36 23
23. Central High School - 41 18
24. Stevens High School - 42 18
25. General Beadle Elementary - 01 15
26. Rapid City Online High School - 92 10

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Rapid City

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Horace Mann Elementary - 07 71.8/100
  2. 2 South Park Elementary - 16 70.3/100
  3. 3 South Middle School - 36 69.9/100
  4. 4 Robbinsdale Elementary - 14 68.6/100
  5. 5 Central High School - 41 68.1/100

What do families ask about schools in Rapid City?

Which Rapid City school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Jefferson Building - 64 has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Rapid City schools in this federal-data comparison at 55/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Rapid City, SD? ▼

Rapid City has 26 public schools with a total enrollment of 12,710 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 17.3:1.

Other Cities in South Dakota

Sioux Falls
52 schools
Aberdeen
12 schools
Mitchell
10 schools
Brandon
9 schools
Huron
9 schools
Watertown
9 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in South Dakota →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.