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What do students at Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 actually talk about outside of class?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
519
Middle
DISTRICT 494 · STATE 187
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·HARRISBURG SCHOOL DISTRICT 41-2·NCES 463135000847
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03
600 S Cliff Ave, Harrisburg, SD 57032 · (605) 743-2567 · Lincoln County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE31-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL519 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 77% 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.
- B+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
12.1:1
43 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 13.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
20%
105 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 6 | 158 | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 193 | 37% |
| Grade 8 | 168 | 32% |
Student demographics
25%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 34% · 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
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03→Harrisburg High School - 01
Based on grade levels within Harrisburg School District 41-2. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
62.6%
SD avg 50.3% . +6.8pp since 2022
Math
51.6%
SD avg 47.5% . +7.8pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 63 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 52 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 7 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 | 62.6% | 51.6% |
| 2023-24 | 55.1% | 48.6% |
| 2022-23 | 55.8% | 43.8% |
% 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
54.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.7%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.1pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 55% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 55% 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 Harrisburg South Middle School - 03
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03's state test result (54.8% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 this school | 519 | 20.2% | 54.8% |
| Spearfish Middle School - 05 Spearfish | 545 | 17.8% | 47.9% |
| Stagebarn Middle School - 10 Summerset | 432 | 28.2% | 46.6% |
| Tea Area Middle School - 02 Tea | 583 | 21.8% | 51.9% |
| West Central Middle School - 04 Hartford | 297 | 13.8% | 44.2% |
| Dell Rapids Middle School - 03 Dell Rapids | 295 | 15.6% | 66.1% |
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 Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Lincoln County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 54.8% | #13 of 64 | #4 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.6% | #20 of 64 ▲ 3 | #5 of 7 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 62.6% | #14 of 65 ▲ 15 | #4 of 7 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 519 | #24 of 165 | #3 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.1:1 | #4 of 42 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 25.2% | #38 of 42 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 20.2% | #51 of 65 | #4 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +30.7% | #3 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
519
+59 (+13%) vs 2020
+381% since 1990-91, when it was 108
Student : Teacher
12.1:1
was 11.5:1
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 | 519 | 43.1 | 12.1:1 | 20% (105) |
| 2023-24 | 540 | 45.2 | 12.0:1 | 11% (60) |
| 2022-23 | 667 | 56 | 11.9:1 | 15% (101) |
| 2020-21 | 460 | 40 | 11.5:1 | 16% (72) |
| 2017-18 | 397 | 30.1 | 13.2:1 | 17% (66) |
| 2015-16 | 341 | 27 | 12.6:1 | 18% (60) |
| 2010-11 | 485 | 34 | 14.3:1 | 19% (92) |
| 2000-01 | 146 | 8 | 18.3:1 | 14% (21) |
| 1990-91 | 108 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Harrisburg South Middle School - 03.
Since 2017-18: students up 31% (397 to 519); teachers up 43% (30.1 to 43.1).
About Harrisburg South Middle School - 03
Students in Harrisburg, South Dakota, attend Harrisburg South Middle School - 03, a high-enrollment middle school. School enrollment was 519 students in 2024-25, in grades 6 through 8. An average school in this group (middle schools in South Dakota) has about 187 students.
District-wide, Harrisburg School District 41-2 has 11 schools and 6,222 students.
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03's enrollment is 86% White. The remaining shares are 5% Hispanic and 5% multiracial. County-wide, about 90% of residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is a 25% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teachers at the school number 43.1 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 12.1:1. This ratio sits 1.4 below the 13.4:1 average for middle schools in South Dakota. Roughly 20% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. For comparison, public schools in Lincoln County average 18%.
The allk12 Grade for Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 is A-. Compared with South Dakota public middle schools, the school scored higher than 77% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
When test results are adjusted for free or reduced-price lunch eligibility, Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 is within a point of its prediction. Actual: 54.8%. Predicted: 54.7%.
According to the American Community Survey, in Lincoln County, the median household income is $99,166, 44% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 4% of people live in poverty. Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 is one of 26 public schools in the county.
The school nearest to Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 is Liberty Elementary - 02, at a distance of about 0.6 miles. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 54.8%; Harrisburg South Middle School - 03's is 54.8%, ranking 5th of 8.
By NCES locale, the school is Town: Fringe, or in a town close to an urbanized area.
Federal data show a 13% enrollment gain, from 460 in 2020-21 to 519 in 2024-25.
Topics for discussion here include science fairs, picture day, and bus routes. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Lincoln County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
70,638
Census ACS
Median income
$99,166
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
44%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
26
10,530 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Harrisburg School District 41-2
- Harrisburg High School - 01High · 1,806 students
- Liberty Elementary - 02Elementary · 559 students
- Harrisburg North Middle School - 08Middle · 534 students
- Horizon Elementary - 09Elementary · 458 students
- Freedom Elementary - 06Elementary · 442 students
- Adventure Elementary - 10Elementary · 440 students
Other schools in Harrisburg
- Harrisburg High School - 01High · 1,806 students
- Liberty Elementary - 02Elementary · 559 students
- Freedom Elementary - 06Elementary · 442 students
Nearby schools
- Liberty Elementary - 020.6 mi · 559
- Harrisburg High School - 011.0 mi · 1,806
- Freedom Elementary - 061.2 mi · 442
- Adventure Elementary - 103.2 mi · 440
- Harrisburg North Middle School - 083.5 mi · 534
- Endeavor Elementary - 073.7 mi · 358
Frequently asked questions
About Harrisburg South Middle School - 03How many students attend Harrisburg South Middle School - 03?
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 enrolls approximately 519 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 serve?
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 serves grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Harrisburg South Middle School - 03?
Approximately 12.1:1 students per teacher at Harrisburg South Middle School - 03.
How diverse is Harrisburg South Middle School - 03?
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 reports a student body of 86% White, 5% Hispanic, 2% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 in?
Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 is part of Harrisburg School District 41-2.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.