Enrollment
65
Elementary
DISTRICT 45 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BISON SCHOOL DISTRICT 52-1·NCES 460705000054
Bison Elementary - 02
200 E Carr St, Bison, SD 57620 · (605) 244-5271 · Perkins County
GRADES KG–06ELEMENTARY43-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL65 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 27% of South Dakota public elementary schools
- CTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C-Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded South Dakota public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
7.3:1
9 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 8.4:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
28%
18 students
DISTRICT 24% · STATE 42%
Community
0
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 5 | 8% |
| Grade 1 | 6 | 9% |
| Grade 2 | 8 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 13 | 20% |
| Grade 4 | 10 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 7 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 16 | 25% |
Student demographics
20%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 19% · STATE 53% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Bison School District 52-1. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
40.9%
SD avg 50.3% . +11.2pp since 2022
Math
34.1%
SD avg 47.5% . -1.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 34 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all South Dakota schools, those numbers are about 50 and 47. Reading and writing scores are up about 11 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 1 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 40.9% | 34.1% |
| 2023-24 | 46.2% | 38.5% |
| 2022-23 | 29.7% | 35.1% |
% Proficient, all students and all tested grades.
Source: SD Smarter Balanced. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
39.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
51.7%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-11.7pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 40% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 52% typical for South Dakota schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among South Dakota's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Bison Elementary - 02
Bison Elementary - 02's state test result (39.9% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bison Elementary - 02 this school | 65 | 27.7% | 39.9% |
| Onida Elementary - 04 Onida | 79 | 26.6% | 57.0% |
| Herreid Elementary - 02 Herreid | 77 | 27.3% | 39.8% |
| Avon Elementary - 02 Avon | 74 | 31.1% | 53.5% |
| Centerville Elementary - 02 Centerville | 108 | 28.7% | 52.5% |
| Leola Elementary - 02 Leola | 57 | 29.8% | 64.4% |
Matched among South Dakota elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Bison Elementary - 02 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 65 | #231 of 331 |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
65
-10 (-13%) vs 2020
-42% since 1990-91, when it was 112
Student : Teacher
7.3:1
was 7.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 65 | 9 | 7.3:1 | 28% (18) |
| 2023-24 | 71 | 10 | 7.1:1 | 21% (15) |
| 2022-23 | 67 | 8.7 | 7.7:1 | 28% (19) |
| 2020-21 | 75 | 10 | 7.5:1 | 25% (19) |
| 2017-18 | 83 | 9.7 | 8.6:1 | 34% (28) |
| 2015-16 | 89 | 9 | 9.9:1 | 42% (37) |
| 2010-11 | 66 | 9 | 7.3:1 | 45% (30) |
| 2000-01 | 65 | 8 | 8.1:1 | 51% (33) |
| 1990-91 | 112 | 8 | 14.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Bison Elementary - 02.
Since 2017-18: students down 22% (83 to 65); teachers down 7% (9.7 to 9).
About Bison Elementary - 02
Bison Elementary - 02 operates as a very small elementary school in Bison, South Dakota. Enrollment totals 65 students across kindergarten through 6. That puts enrollment 68% below the 204-student average for elementary schools in South Dakota.
Besides Bison Elementary - 02, Bison School District 52-1 runs 2 other schools. The district enrolls 135 students.
Bison Elementary - 02 is 89% White by enrollment. Other reported shares: 6% Hispanic and 5% Native American. That is in line with Perkins County, where about 93% of residents are White. The diversity index for Bison Elementary - 02 is 20%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
With 9 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 7.3:1. Elementary schools in South Dakota average 15.4:1, 8.1 more students per teacher than here. Roughly 28% of students come from households that qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is below the 36% average among public schools in Perkins County.
Among South Dakota public elementary schools, Bison Elementary - 02 outscored 27%, which works out to a C on the allk12 Grade.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Bison Elementary - 02 is -11.7 points: 39.9% actual, 51.7% predicted.
In Perkins County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $66,908, about 25% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 10% of residents are in poverty. There are 6 public schools in the county, enrolling about 424, Bison Elementary - 02 among them.
Bison High School - 01 is less than a tenth of a mile away, making it the nearest public school. There are 2 more public schools inside five miles. Bison Elementary - 02 ranks 4th of 4 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 39.9% against a local average of 52.0%.
In the federal locale system, Bison Elementary - 02 is coded Rural: Remote, for schools in rural territory far from an urban area.
Enrollment figures show a decline of 10 students from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about open houses, carpools, and field trips at Bison Elementary - 02. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Perkins County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
3,001
Census ACS
Median income
$66,908
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
25%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
10%
Below federal line
Schools in county
6
424 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Bison School District 52-1
- Bison High School - 01High · 52 students
- Bison Jr. High - 04Middle · 18 students
Other schools in Bison
- Bison High School - 01High · 52 students
- Bison Jr. High - 04Middle · 18 students
Nearby schools
- Bison High School - 010.0 mi · 52
- Bison Jr. High - 040.0 mi · 18
- Lemmon Elementary - 0231.8 mi · 139
- Lemmon Jr. High - 0631.9 mi · 53
- Lemmon High School - 0131.9 mi · 97
- HETTINGER HIGH SCHOOL33.8 mi · 122
Frequently asked questions
About Bison Elementary - 02How large is Bison Elementary - 02?
Bison Elementary - 02 enrolls approximately 65 students in grades KG-06.
What grades does Bison Elementary - 02 serve?
Bison Elementary - 02 serves grades KG-06.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Bison Elementary - 02?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Bison Elementary - 02 is approximately 7.3:1 (9 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Bison Elementary - 02?
At Bison Elementary - 02, the student body is approximately 89% White, 6% Hispanic.
Is Bison Elementary - 02 public or private?
Bison Elementary - 02 is a public K-12 school, overseen by Bison School District 52-1.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.