Enrollment
345
Middle
DISTRICT 335 · STATE 187
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·DAKOTA VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICT 61-8·NCES 463699000809
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03
1150 Northshore Dr, North Sioux City, SD 57049 · (605) 422-3830 · Union County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE22-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL345 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 77% of South Dakota public middle schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- BBeats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
20 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.1:1 · STATE 13.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
12%
43 students
DISTRICT 14% · STATE 42%
Community
0
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 6 | 114 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 121 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 110 | 32% |
Student demographics
43%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 41% · 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
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03→Dakota Valley High School - 01
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Dakota Valley School District 61-8. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
Be the first to start a discussion at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03.
START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
71.5%
SD avg 50.3% . +13.4pp since 2022
Math
55.8%
SD avg 47.5% . +7.6pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 72 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 56 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 13 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 8 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 71.5% | 55.8% |
| 2023-24 | 67.9% | 54.6% |
| 2022-23 | 58.1% | 48.2% |
% 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
57.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
57.9%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 58% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 58% 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 Dakota Valley Middle School - 03
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03's state test result (57.5% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 this school | 345 | 12.5% | 57.5% |
| Southwest Middle School - 38 Rapid City | 614 | 12.9% | 65.6% |
| Harrisburg North Middle School - 08 Sioux Falls | 534 | 15.9% | 55.9% |
| George S. Mickelson Middle School - 02 Brookings | 780 | 21.5% | 41.1% |
| Madison Middle School - 02 Madison | 270 | 23.3% | 49.5% |
| Harrisburg East Middle School - 11 Sioux Falls | 428 | 20.6% | 50.1% |
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 Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 57.5% | #10 of 64 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 55.8% | #12 of 64 ▲ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 71.5% | #4 of 65 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 345 | #33 of 165 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.1:1 | #38 of 42 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 42.7% | #19 of 42 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 12.5% | #65 of 65 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +13.9% | #7 of 12 |
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
345
-16 (-4%) vs 2020
+35% since 1990-91, when it was 255
Student : Teacher
17.1:1
was 20.1:1
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 | 345 | 20.2 | 17.1:1 | 12% (43) |
| 2023-24 | 341 | 17.3 | 19.7:1 | 13% (44) |
| 2022-23 | 342 | 18.5 | 18.5:1 | 10% (33) |
| 2020-21 | 361 | 18 | 20.1:1 | 15% (54) |
| 2017-18 | 303 | 11 | 27.6:1 | 12% (37) |
| 2015-16 | 199 | 10 | 19.9:1 | 18% (35) |
| 2010-11 | 169 | 10 | 16.9:1 | 16% (27) |
| 2000-01 | 185 | 11 | 16.8:1 | 17% (32) |
| 1990-91 | 255 | 15 | 17.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Dakota Valley Middle School - 03.
Since 2017-18: students up 14% (303 to 345); teachers up 84% (11 to 20.2).
About Dakota Valley Middle School - 03
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is a high-enrollment middle-grades school in South Dakota, with an address in North Sioux City. It enrolls 345 students in 2024-25. The grades offered are 6 through 8. That is 84% bigger than the average of about 187 students for middle schools in South Dakota.
In Dakota Valley School District 61-8, 4 schools enroll a combined 1,341 students.
The student body at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is 74% White. The rest of enrollment is 10% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 3% Asian, and 2% Black. Among all residents of Union County, the White share is about 90%. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 43%.
With 20.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, the student-to-teacher ratio is about 17.1:1. The average for middle schools in South Dakota is 13.4:1, so this school has more students per teacher. Student poverty is often measured by lunch eligibility; at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03, 12% qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 holds an A- allk12 Grade, placing it above 77% of South Dakota public middle schools.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 57.9% for Dakota Valley Middle School - 03. The school posts 57.5%, within a point of the prediction.
The county, Union County, is where the school is located. The median household earns about $89,636 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 37%, and roughly 4% of residents are in poverty. Union County has 14 public schools with about 3,037 students, including Dakota Valley Middle School - 03.
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is less than a tenth of a mile from Dakota Valley Upper Elementary - 04, its nearest public school. Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 has 6 other public schools within five miles. Ranking the closest schools with test data puts Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 at 4th of 7.
NCES describes the area around Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 as Suburb: Mid-size, meaning in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The school shrank from 361 students in 2020-21 to 345 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio dropped from 20.1:1 in 2020-21 to 17.1:1 in 2024-25.
The allk12 page for Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 lets the school community talk about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. You can also rate the school on this page.
Union County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
17,081
Census ACS
Median income
$89,636
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
14
3,037 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Dakota Valley School District 61-8
- Dakota Valley High School - 01High · 431 students
- Dakota Valley Elementary - 02Elementary · 386 students
- Dakota Valley Upper Elementary - 04Elementary · 179 students
Other schools in North Sioux City
- Dakota Valley High School - 01High · 431 students
- Dakota Valley Elementary - 02Elementary · 386 students
- Dakota Valley Upper Elementary - 04Elementary · 179 students
Nearby schools
- Dakota Valley Upper Elementary - 040.0 mi · 179
- Dakota Valley High School - 010.0 mi · 431
- Dakota Valley Elementary - 020.1 mi · 386
- Riverside Elementary School3.3 mi · 227
- West Middle School4.6 mi · 826
- West High School4.8 mi · 1,308
Frequently asked questions
About Dakota Valley Middle School - 03How many students attend Dakota Valley Middle School - 03?
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 enrolls approximately 345 students in grades 06-08.
Is Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 an elementary, middle, or high school?
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is a middle school covering grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03?
Approximately 17.1:1 students per teacher at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03.
What is the student diversity at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03?
Student demographics at Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 are roughly 74% White, 10% Hispanic, 2% Black, 3% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Who oversees Dakota Valley Middle School - 03?
Dakota Valley Middle School - 03 is overseen by Dakota Valley School District 61-8 in Union County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.