Enrollment
165
Elementary
DISTRICT 466 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT 49-5·NCES 466627001129
Challenge Center - 51
3101 S 4th Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57105 · (605) 367-6170 · Minnehaha County
GRADES 02–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL165 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 99% of South Dakota public elementary 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.
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
14.9:1
11 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
16%
26 students
DISTRICT 58% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 2 | 19 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 40 | 24% |
| Grade 4 | 52 | 32% |
| Grade 5 | 54 | 33% |
Student demographics
31%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 65% · 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
Test scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
97.9%
SD avg 50.3% . +2.4pp since 2022
Math
95.1%
SD avg 47.5% . -3.6pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 98 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 95 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 down about 4 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 97.9% | 95.1% |
| 2023-24 | 93.0% | 95.5% |
| 2022-23 | 95.5% | 98.7% |
% 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
95.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.6%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+38.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 95% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 57% 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 38 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 Challenge Center - 51
Challenge Center - 51's state test result (95.0% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Challenge Center - 51 this school | 165 | 15.8% | 95.0% |
| Tri-Valley Elementary in Colton - 02 Colton | 154 | 16.2% | 50.4% |
| All City Elementary - 50 Sioux Falls | 149 | 22.8% | 68.3% |
| Northwestern Elementary - 04 Mellette | 135 | 19.3% | 52.8% |
| Mountain View Elementary - 08 Spearfish | 168 | 20.8% | 56.0% |
| Howard Elementary - 02 Howard | 158 | 16.5% | 62.2% |
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 Challenge Center - 51 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Minnehaha County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 95.0% | #1 of 193 | #1 of 35 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 95.1% | #1 of 199 no change | #1 of 35 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 97.9% | #1 of 202 no change | #1 of 35 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 165 | #153 of 331 | #32 of 39 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 15.8% | #193 of 209 | #30 of 36 |
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
165
+1 (+1%) vs 2020
+76% since 2000-01, when it was 94
Student : Teacher
14.9:1
was 20.5:1
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 | 165 | 11.1 | 14.9:1 | 16% (26) |
| 2023-24 | 177 | 10.9 | 16.3:1 | 12% (22) |
| 2022-23 | 185 | 10.1 | 18.3:1 | 12% (22) |
| 2020-21 | 164 | 8 | 20.5:1 | 14% (23) |
| 2017-18 | 156 | 8.8 | 17.8:1 | 15% (23) |
| 2015-16 | 150 | 7 | 21.4:1 | 13% (19) |
| 2010-11 | 132 | 8 | 16.5:1 | 14% (19) |
| 2000-01 | 94 | 4 | 23.5:1 | 0% (0) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Challenge Center - 51.
Since 2017-18: students up 6% (156 to 165); teachers up 27% (8.8 to 11.1).
About Challenge Center - 51
Challenge Center - 51 is a small elementary school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The school has 165 students in 2024-25 across grades 2 through 5.
Challenge Center - 51 is run by Sioux Falls School District 49-5, whose 44 schools enroll 25,060 students.
The share of White students at Challenge Center - 51 is 82%. The remaining shares are 5% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 5% Black. In Minnehaha County overall, the White share is about 80%. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, Challenge Center - 51 scores 31%.
Classroom staffing at Challenge Center - 51 totals 11.1 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the student-to-teacher ratio is 14.9:1. That is in line with the 15.4:1 average for elementary schools in South Dakota. Federal data show 16% of students (26) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. By comparison, the figure for public schools in Minnehaha County is 42%.
Among South Dakota public elementary schools, Challenge Center - 51 outscored 99%, which works out to an A+ on the allk12 Grade.
On a poverty-adjusted basis, Challenge Center - 51 is in the top 10% of South Dakota schools: 95.0% actual against 56.6% predicted.
Looking at the county, Minnehaha County, the median household earns about $76,880 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and roughly 6% of residents are in poverty. Minnehaha County has 83 public schools with about 34,919 students, including Challenge Center - 51.
Challenge Center - 51's closest public school neighbor is Robert Frost Elementary - 18, less than a tenth of a mile away. The five-mile area around Challenge Center - 51 holds at least 8 other public schools. Challenge Center - 51 ranks 1st of 8 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 95.0% against a local average of 42.3%.
The school's locale code, City: Mid-size, means it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Enrollment was essentially flat over 4 years: 164 in 2020-21, 165 in 2024-25. Staffing shifted too: the ratio moved from 20.5:1 to 14.9:1.
This page is set up for the Challenge Center - 51 community to discuss open houses, carpools, and field trips. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 Sioux Falls School District 49-5
- Lincoln High School - 02High · 1,954 students
- Jefferson High School - 67High · 1,888 students
- Washington High School - 01High · 1,819 students
- Roosevelt High School - 03High · 1,785 students
- Memorial Middle School - 04Middle · 1,133 students
- Edison Middle School - 06Middle · 937 students
Other schools in Sioux Falls
- Lincoln High School - 02High · 1,954 students
- Jefferson High School - 67High · 1,888 students
- Washington High School - 01High · 1,819 students
- Roosevelt High School - 03High · 1,785 students
- Memorial Middle School - 04Middle · 1,133 students
- Edison Middle School - 06Middle · 937 students
Nearby schools
- Robert Frost Elementary - 180.0 mi · 447
- Patrick Henry Middle School - 070.6 mi · 925
- Lincoln High School - 020.7 mi · 1,954
- Susan B. Anthony Elementary - 660.8 mi · 472
- Bridges At Horace Mann - 521.1 mi · 55
- Edison Middle School - 061.4 mi · 937
Frequently asked questions
About Challenge Center - 51What is the total enrollment at Challenge Center - 51?
Challenge Center - 51 enrolls approximately 165 students in grades 02-05.
What grades does Challenge Center - 51 serve?
Challenge Center - 51 serves grades 02-05.
How many teachers does Challenge Center - 51 have?
Challenge Center - 51 employs 11 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 14.9:1.
What is the student diversity at Challenge Center - 51?
Student demographics at Challenge Center - 51 are roughly 82% White, 5% Hispanic, 5% Black, 2% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Challenge Center - 51 in?
Challenge Center - 51 is part of Sioux Falls School District 49-5.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.