Enrollment
361
Elementary
DISTRICT 238 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WATERTOWN SCHOOL DISTRICT 14-4·NCES 467662000944
Lincoln Elementary - 05
1100 13th St NE, Watertown, SD 57201 · (605) 882-6340 · Codington County
GRADES 01–04ELEMENTARY33-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL361 STUDENTS
A
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 87% of South Dakota public elementary schools
- ATest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- ABeats 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
14.8:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 13.2:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
37%
134 students
DISTRICT 39% · 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 1 | 87 | 24% |
| Grade 2 | 83 | 23% |
| Grade 3 | 93 | 26% |
| Grade 4 | 98 | 27% |
This year's 1st grade class (87) is 11% smaller than its 4th grade class (98).
Student demographics
41%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
Lincoln Elementary - 05→Watertown Intermediate School - 13→Watertown Middle School - 02→Watertown High School - 01
Based on grade levels within Watertown School District 14-4. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
44.5%
SD avg 50.3% . -28.4pp since 2022
Math
54.1%
SD avg 47.5% . -23.3pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 45 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 54 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all South Dakota schools, those numbers are about 50 and 47. Reading and writing scores are down about 28 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 23 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.5% | 54.1% |
| 2023-24 | 69.2% | 79.1% |
| 2022-23 | 72.9% | 77.4% |
% 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
61.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
47.8%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+13.9pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 62% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 48% 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 14 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 Lincoln Elementary - 05
Lincoln Elementary - 05's state test result (61.7% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Elementary - 05 this school | 361 | 37.1% | 61.7% |
| L. B. Williams Elementary - 03 Mitchell | 438 | 41.3% | 46.3% |
| Stewart Elementary - 05 Yankton | 271 | 38.0% | 45.6% |
| McKinley Early Childhood Center - 06 Watertown | 296 | 38.2% | N/A |
| Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary - 04 Mitchell | 379 | 41.2% | 51.0% |
| Black Hawk Elementary - 03 Black Hawk | 305 | 34.1% | 29.9% |
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 Lincoln Elementary - 05 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Codington County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 61.7% | #34 of 193 | N/A |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 54.1% | #87 of 199 ▼ 79 | #3 of 7 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.5% | #127 of 202 ▼ 109 | #3 of 7 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 361 | #72 of 331 | #1 of 8 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.8:1 | #84 of 131 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 40.9% | #70 of 131 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 37.1% | #95 of 209 | #5 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -6.5% | #66 of 87 | N/A |
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
361
-10 (-3%) vs 2020
-29% since 1990-91, when it was 505
Student : Teacher
14.8:1
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 | 361 | 24.3 | 14.8:1 | 37% (134) |
| 2023-24 | 338 | 21.3 | 15.8:1 | 21% (72) |
| 2022-23 | 338 | 21.7 | 15.6:1 | 19% (64) |
| 2020-21 | 371 | 20 | 18.6:1 | 18% (67) |
| 2017-18 | 386 | 22.2 | 17.4:1 | 21% (80) |
| 2015-16 | 526 | 28 | 18.8:1 | 23% (121) |
| 2010-11 | 494 | 27 | 18.3:1 | 21% (103) |
| 2000-01 | 446 | 26 | 17.1:1 | 12% (53) |
| 1990-91 | 505 | 22 | 22.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Lincoln Elementary - 05.
Since 2017-18: students down 6% (386 to 361); teachers up 9% (22.2 to 24.3).
About Lincoln Elementary - 05
Lincoln Elementary - 05 is a large elementary school in Watertown, South Dakota, under Watertown School District 14-4. There are 361 students enrolled, covering grades 1 through 4. Across elementary schools in South Dakota, the average enrollment is about 204.
A total of 9 schools make up Watertown School District 14-4, with 3,754 students enrolled.
Of every 100 students at Lincoln Elementary - 05, about 75 are White. After that, the student body is 14% Hispanic, 6% multiracial, and 4% Native American. Among all residents of Codington County, the White share is about 91%. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 41%.
There are 24.3 full-time-equivalent teachers at Lincoln Elementary - 05, giving a ratio of 14.8:1. The ratio is within a point of the 15.4:1 average for elementary schools in South Dakota. By family income, 37% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That is in line with the 36% average for public schools in Codington County.
Lincoln Elementary - 05 holds an A allk12 Grade, placing it above 87% of South Dakota public elementary schools.
Lincoln Elementary - 05 is in the top 10% of South Dakota schools on the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure. Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the model predicts an average proficiency rate across its state test results of 47.8%. The school's actual rate is 61.7%, 13.9 points higher.
In Codington County, where the school is located, the median household earns about $72,727 a year, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 5% of people live in poverty. Counting Lincoln Elementary - 05, Codington County has 18 public schools.
Watertown Intermediate School - 13 is about 0.4 miles from Lincoln Elementary - 05, the shortest distance to any other public school. Other public schools within five miles: 7. The nearest schools with test data average 51.6%, lower than Lincoln Elementary - 05's 61.7%.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Town: Remote, meaning it is in a town far from an urbanized area.
The school shrank from 371 students in 2020-21 to 361 in 2024-25. The student-to-teacher ratio dropped from 18.6:1 in 2020-21 to 14.8:1 in 2024-25.
The Lincoln Elementary - 05 discussion page is a place for special education services, counseling, and support programs. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Codington County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
28,767
Census ACS
Median income
$72,727
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
21%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
18
4,561 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Watertown School District 14-4
- Watertown High School - 01High · 1,222 students
- Watertown Middle School - 02Middle · 575 students
- Watertown Intermediate School - 13Middle · 532 students
- Jefferson Elementary - 09Elementary · 333 students
- McKinley Early Childhood Center - 06Elementary · 296 students
- Mellette Elementary - 07Elementary · 267 students
Other schools in Watertown
- Watertown High School - 01High · 1,222 students
- Watertown Middle School - 02Middle · 575 students
- Watertown Intermediate School - 13Middle · 532 students
- Jefferson Elementary - 09Elementary · 333 students
- McKinley Early Childhood Center - 06Elementary · 296 students
- Mellette Elementary - 07Elementary · 267 students
Other Lincoln Elementary schools
213 other US public schools in 37 states are named Lincoln Elementary. Lincoln Elementary - 05 is the 94th largest of the 214.
- Lincoln Elementary - 04Yankton, SD · 416 students
- Lincoln Elementary - 08Aberdeen, SD · 233 students
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolNORTH BERGEN, NJ · 1,193 students
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolEDISON, NJ · 946 students
- Lincoln Elementary SchoolLincoln, AL · 902 students
Nearby schools
- Watertown Intermediate School - 130.4 mi · 532
- Watertown Middle School - 020.7 mi · 575
- Watertown High School - 010.7 mi · 1,222
- Jefferson Elementary - 091.1 mi · 333
- Mellette Elementary - 071.2 mi · 267
- Roosevelt Elementary - 081.6 mi · 148
Frequently asked questions
About Lincoln Elementary - 05How large is Lincoln Elementary - 05?
Lincoln Elementary - 05 enrolls approximately 361 students in grades 01-04.
What age range does Lincoln Elementary - 05 serve?
Lincoln Elementary - 05 serves students from grade 01 through grade 04.
How many students per teacher at Lincoln Elementary - 05?
Approximately 14.8:1 students per teacher at Lincoln Elementary - 05.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Lincoln Elementary - 05?
At Lincoln Elementary - 05, the student body is approximately 75% White, 14% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 6% Two or more.
Is Lincoln Elementary - 05 public or private?
Lincoln Elementary - 05 is a public K-12 school, overseen by Watertown School District 14-4.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.