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What do students at Discovery Elementary - 26 actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
873
Elementary
DISTRICT 466 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT 49-5·NCES 466627001238
Discovery Elementary - 26
1506 S Discovery Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57106 · (605) 362-3530 · Minnehaha County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL873 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 72% 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.
- BBeats 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
17.4:1
50 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
22%
191 students
DISTRICT 58% · STATE 42%
Community
1
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 29 | 3% |
| Kindergarten | 142 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 122 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 150 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 140 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 150 | 17% |
| Grade 5 | 140 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (142) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (140).
Student demographics
35%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
60.5%
SD avg 50.3% . +6.2pp since 2022
Math
63.0%
SD avg 47.5% . +2.7pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 61 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 63 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 6 points since 2022, while math scores are up about 3 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 60.5% | 63.0% |
| 2023-24 | 60.7% | 60.9% |
| 2022-23 | 54.3% | 60.3% |
% 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
57.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.1%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+3.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 57% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 54% 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 Discovery Elementary - 26
Discovery Elementary - 26's state test result (57.2% proficient) is higher than 3 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery Elementary - 26 this school | 873 | 21.9% | 57.2% |
| John Harris Elementary - 23 Sioux Falls | 666 | 21.0% | 60.9% |
| Brandon Elementary - 03 Brandon | 728 | 29.8% | 71.6% |
| Camelot Intermediate - 06 Brookings | 523 | 21.4% | 44.2% |
| Liberty Elementary - 02 Harrisburg | 559 | 16.1% | 40.7% |
| Freedom Elementary - 06 Harrisburg | 442 | 23.3% | 37.8% |
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 Discovery Elementary - 26 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Minnehaha County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 57.2% | #54 of 193 | #14 of 35 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 63.0% | #52 of 199 ▲ 6 | #13 of 35 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 60.5% | #53 of 202 ▼ 10 | #12 of 35 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 873 | #2 of 331 | #1 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 17.4:1 | #122 of 131 | #26 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 34.9% | #82 of 131 | #24 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 21.9% | #167 of 209 | #26 of 36 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -3.4% | #76 of 87 | #14 of 16 |
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
873
+18 (+2%) vs 2020
+39% since 2010-11, when it was 628
Student : Teacher
17.4:1
was 18.6:1
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 | 873 | 50.3 | 17.4:1 | 22% (191) |
| 2023-24 | 867 | 49.5 | 17.5:1 | 21% (178) |
| 2022-23 | 877 | 49.7 | 17.6:1 | 18% (161) |
| 2020-21 | 855 | 46 | 18.6:1 | 19% (160) |
| 2017-18 | 904 | 52.4 | 17.3:1 | 21% (191) |
| 2015-16 | 833 | 44 | 18.9:1 | 21% (173) |
| 2010-11 | 628 | 34 | 18.5:1 | 17% (106) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Discovery Elementary - 26.
Since 2017-18: students down 3% (904 to 873); teachers down 4% (52.4 to 50.3).
About Discovery Elementary - 26
Discovery Elementary - 26 is a large elementary school for students in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The school offers pre-K through 5 and enrolls 873 students. The school is 328% larger than the average for elementary schools in South Dakota.
Sioux Falls School District 49-5 has 25,060 students spread across 44 schools.
At Discovery Elementary - 26, 80% of students are White. The school is also 6% Hispanic, 6% Black, 5% multiracial, and 3% Native American. Census estimates put Minnehaha County at about 80% White, close to the school's figure. A diversity index of 35% means there is a 35% chance two randomly chosen students at Discovery Elementary - 26 are from different groups.
The student-to-teacher ratio is 17.4:1. The school has 50.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. Across elementary schools in South Dakota, the average ratio is 15.4:1. Federal data show 22% of students (191) are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The 42% average for public schools in Minnehaha County is 20 points higher.
On the allk12 Grade, Discovery Elementary - 26 lands at B+, ahead of 72% of South Dakota public elementary schools.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Discovery Elementary - 26 is 3.1 points above the average proficiency rate across its state test results predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 57.2% actual, 54.1% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in South Dakota.
The school's county is Minnehaha County. According to Census Bureau estimates, the median household earns about $76,880 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 35% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 6%. Discovery Elementary - 26 shares Minnehaha County with 82 other public schools.
Straight-line distance to the nearest public school, Memorial Middle School - 04, is about 0.1 miles. Around the school, at least 8 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, Discovery Elementary - 26 is 3rd among 7 schools close by.
The school's setting, by NCES definition, is City: Mid-size: inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Discovery Elementary - 26 had 855 students in 2020-21 and 873 in 2024-25, nearly the same. The school's ratio dropped from 18.6:1 to 17.4:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Anyone can start a thread about fundraisers, report cards, and school supplies at Discovery Elementary - 26. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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
Other Discovery Elementary schools
16 other US public schools in 10 states are named Discovery Elementary. Discovery Elementary - 26 is the largest of the 17.
- DISCOVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLSUNRISE, FL · 789 students
- Discovery ElementarySan Marcos, CA · 717 students
- Discovery ElementaryBakersfield, CA · 706 students
- DISCOVERY ELEMENTARY SCHOOLPALM BAY, FL · 679 students
- Discovery ElementaryGRAND RAPIDS, MI · 674 students
Nearby schools
- Memorial Middle School - 040.1 mi · 1,133
- Tea Area Frontier Elementary - 051.1 mi · 292
- Roosevelt High School - 031.3 mi · 1,785
- Oscar Howe Elementary - 581.3 mi · 608
- Hayward Elementary - 381.7 mi · 728
- RF Pettigrew Elementary - 171.9 mi · 846
Frequently asked questions
About Discovery Elementary - 26What is the total enrollment at Discovery Elementary - 26?
Discovery Elementary - 26 enrolls approximately 873 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Discovery Elementary - 26 serve?
Discovery Elementary - 26 serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Discovery Elementary - 26?
Approximately 17.4:1 students per teacher at Discovery Elementary - 26.
How diverse is Discovery Elementary - 26?
Discovery Elementary - 26 reports a student body of 80% White, 6% Hispanic, 6% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees Discovery Elementary - 26?
Discovery Elementary - 26 is overseen by Sioux Falls School District 49-5 in Minnehaha County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.