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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
829
Middle
DISTRICT 794 · STATE 187
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BRANDON VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT 49-2·NCES 460795001355
Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07
201 W Park St, Brandon, SD 57005 · (605) 582-6035 · Minnehaha County
GRADES 05–06MIDDLE41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL829 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 99% of South Dakota public middle schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
17.6:1
47 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.5:1 · STATE 13.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
21%
171 students
DISTRICT 19% · STATE 42%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 5 | 419 | 51% |
| Grade 6 | 410 | 49% |
Student demographics
36%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 32% · 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
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Brandon Valley School District 49-2. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
74.7%
SD avg 50.3% . +2.3pp since 2022
Math
69.5%
SD avg 47.5% . +4.1pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 75 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 70 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 2 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 4 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 74.7% | 69.5% |
| 2023-24 | 75.3% | 68.2% |
| 2022-23 | 72.4% | 65.4% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of SD schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
70.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.6%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+16.2pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 71% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 55% typical for South Dakota schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 16 points, placing it in South Dakota's top 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 Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07
Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07's state test result (70.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 this school | 829 | 20.6% | 70.7% |
| Tea Area Middle School - 02 Tea | 583 | 21.8% | 51.9% |
| Brandon Valley Middle School - 02 Brandon | 759 | 18.3% | 63.8% |
| George S. Mickelson Middle School - 02 Brookings | 780 | 21.5% | 41.1% |
| Harrisburg East Middle School - 11 Sioux Falls | 428 | 20.6% | 50.1% |
| Memorial Middle School - 04 Sioux Falls | 1,133 | 30.8% | 58.5% |
Matched among South Dakota middle 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 Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Minnehaha County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 70.7% | #1 of 64 | #1 of 13 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 69.5% | #1 of 64 ▲ 2 | #1 of 13 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 74.7% | #1 of 65 no change | #1 of 13 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 829 | #5 of 165 | #5 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.6:1 | #41 of 42 | #11 of 11 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 36.4% | #26 of 42 | #7 of 11 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 20.6% | #49 of 65 | #8 of 13 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +24.8% | #4 of 12 | N/A |
Ranked against other public middle 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
829
+124 (+18%) vs 2020
Student : Teacher
17.6:1
was 17.6:1
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 | 829 | 47 | 17.6:1 | 21% (171) |
| 2023-24 | 785 | 46.5 | 16.9:1 | 13% (99) |
| 2022-23 | 728 | 44.7 | 16.3:1 | 14% (102) |
| 2020-21 | 705 | 40 | 17.6:1 | 7% (51) |
| 2017-18 | 664 | 39.8 | 16.7:1 | 23% (150) |
| 2015-16 | 624 | 37 | 16.9:1 | 21% (131) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07.
Since 2017-18: students up 25% (664 to 829); teachers up 18% (39.8 to 47).
About Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07
Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 is a public middle school run by Brandon Valley School District 49-2 in Brandon, South Dakota. Enrollment is 829 students in 2024-25, and the school serves grades 5 through 6. The average for middle schools in South Dakota is about 187 students, so this school is 343% above average.
Brandon Valley School District 49-2 has 8 schools; together they serve 5,182 students.
A majority of students at Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07, 79%, are White. Beyond that, enrollment is 7% Hispanic, 6% Black, and 6% multiracial. That is close to the 80% White share among all Minnehaha County residents. By the diversity index, Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 comes in at 36%.
Its 47 full-time-equivalent teachers give the school a ratio of 17.6:1. The average ratio among middle schools in South Dakota is 13.4:1, lower than at this school. The school's lunch program data list 21% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. That is 21 points below the 42% average for public schools in Minnehaha County.
Measured against South Dakota public middle schools, Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 receives an A+. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
Compared with South Dakota schools that have similar shares of low-income students, Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 does better than predicted by 16.2 points. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 70.7%; the prediction is 54.6%.
Census Bureau estimates for Minnehaha County show that median household income is about $76,880, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. A total of 83 public schools operate in Minnehaha County, serving about 34,919 students.
The closest other public school is Robert Bennis Elementary - 05, about 0.1 miles away. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 ranks 4th of 7 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 70.7% against a local average of 67.3%.
NCES lists the school's locale as Rural: Fringe. That means it sits in rural territory close to an urban area.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 went from 705 students to 829.
Conversations here can range across science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Minnehaha County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
203,289
Census ACS
Median income
$76,880
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
6%
Below federal line
Schools in county
83
34,919 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Brandon Valley School District 49-2
- Brandon Valley High School - 01High · 1,381 students
- Brandon Valley Middle School - 02Middle · 759 students
- Brandon Elementary - 03Elementary · 728 students
- Robert Bennis Elementary - 05Elementary · 542 students
- Fred Assam Elementary - 06Elementary · 531 students
- Inspiration Elementary - 08Elementary · 345 students
Other schools in Brandon
- Brandon Valley High School - 01High · 1,381 students
- Brandon Valley Middle School - 02Middle · 759 students
- Brandon Elementary - 03Elementary · 728 students
- Robert Bennis Elementary - 05Elementary · 542 students
- Brandon Valley Distance Learning Academy Elementary - 94Combined
- Brandon Valley Distance Learning Academy High School - 92Combined
Nearby schools
- Robert Bennis Elementary - 050.1 mi · 542
- Brandon Elementary - 031.6 mi · 728
- Brandon Valley High School - 011.8 mi · 1,381
- Brandon Valley Middle School - 021.8 mi · 759
- Fred Assam Elementary - 062.4 mi · 531
- Washington High School - 014.2 mi · 1,819
Frequently asked questions
About Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07How large is Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07?
Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 enrolls approximately 829 students in grades 05-06.
Is Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 an elementary, middle, or high school?
Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 is a middle school covering grades 05-06.
How many teachers does Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 have?
Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 employs 47 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 17.6:1.
What is the student diversity at Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07?
Student demographics at Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 are roughly 79% White, 7% Hispanic, 6% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Who oversees Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07?
Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 is overseen by Brandon Valley School District 49-2 in Minnehaha County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.