Enrollment
426
Elementary
DISTRICT 466 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·SIOUX FALLS SCHOOL DISTRICT 49-5·NCES 466627000602
Lowell Elementary - 28
710 W 18th St, Sioux Falls, SD 57104 · (605) 367-8378 · Minnehaha County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY12-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL426 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 32% of South Dakota public elementary schools
- C-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
14.3:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 14.6:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
87%
372 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 54 | 13% |
| Kindergarten | 58 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 67 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 64 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 61 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 54 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 68 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (58) is 15% smaller than its 5th grade class (68).
Student demographics
77%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
29.7%
SD avg 50.3% . -10.8pp since 2022
Math
29.7%
SD avg 47.5% . -4.0pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 30 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 30 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 11 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 | 29.7% | 29.7% |
| 2023-24 | 31.4% | 31.4% |
| 2022-23 | 40.5% | 33.7% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
29.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
27.2%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.5pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 30% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 27% 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 Lowell Elementary - 28
Lowell Elementary - 28's state test result (29.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowell Elementary - 28 this school | 426 | 87.3% | 29.7% |
| Laura B. Anderson Elementary - 10 Sioux Falls | 291 | 85.2% | 23.8% |
| Garfield Elementary - 19 Sioux Falls | 574 | 88.3% | 20.4% |
| Hayward Elementary - 38 Sioux Falls | 728 | 83.5% | 17.4% |
| Hawthorne Elementary - 56 Sioux Falls | 443 | 100.0% | 16.9% |
| Terry Redlin Elementary - 11 Sioux Falls | 412 | 85.2% | 20.5% |
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 Lowell Elementary - 28 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Minnehaha County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 29.7% | #169 of 193 | #28 of 35 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 29.7% | #173 of 199 ▼ 1 | #28 of 35 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.7% | #174 of 202 ▼ 1 | #29 of 35 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 426 | #50 of 331 | #21 of 39 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 14.3:1 | #77 of 131 | #11 of 31 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 77.0% | #4 of 131 | #4 of 31 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 87.3% | #27 of 209 | #4 of 36 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -12.0% | #41 of 87 | #8 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
426
-9 (-2%) vs 2020
-8% since 1990-91, when it was 461
Student : Teacher
14.3:1
was 13.2:1
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 | 426 | 29.8 | 14.3:1 | 87% (372) |
| 2023-24 | 423 | 31.8 | 13.3:1 | 78% (331) |
| 2022-23 | 358 | 29.7 | 12.1:1 | 74% (264) |
| 2020-21 | 435 | 33 | 13.2:1 | 100% (435) |
| 2017-18 | 484 | 33.9 | 14.3:1 | 100% (484) |
| 2015-16 | 511 | 33 | 15.5:1 | 100% (511) |
| 2010-11 | 351 | 30 | 11.7:1 | 86% (303) |
| 2000-01 | 362 | 24 | 15.1:1 | 56% (202) |
| 1990-91 | 461 | 28 | 16.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Lowell Elementary - 28.
Since 2017-18: students down 12% (484 to 426); teachers down 12% (33.9 to 29.8).
About Lowell Elementary - 28
Lowell Elementary - 28 is a high-enrollment elementary school found in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It teaches 426 students in pre-K through 5. Elementary schools in South Dakota have about 204 students on average; enrollment here is 109% higher.
Lowell Elementary - 28 is part of Sioux Falls School District 49-5, where 44 schools serve 25,060 students.
The biggest share of students at Lowell Elementary - 28, 34%, is Hispanic. Other reported shares: 27% White, 13% Native American, 13% Black, and 10% multiracial. That compares with about 7% Hispanic among all Minnehaha County residents. The diversity index for Lowell Elementary - 28 is 77%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
The school has 29.8 full-time-equivalent teachers and a ratio of 14.3 students per teacher. The average for elementary schools in South Dakota is 15.4:1, so this school has fewer students per teacher. The school reported 87% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. It compares with 42% for public schools in Minnehaha County.
Among South Dakota public elementary schools, Lowell Elementary - 28 outscored 32%, which works out to a C on the allk12 Grade.
The model predicts 27.2% for a school in South Dakota with Lowell Elementary - 28's free or reduced-price lunch share. Lowell Elementary - 28 posts 29.7%.
The school's county is Minnehaha County. According to Census Bureau estimates, median household income comes to about $76,880, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 35%, and about 6% of people live in poverty. Minnehaha County's 83 public schools enroll about 34,919 students and include Lowell Elementary - 28.
The closest school to Lowell Elementary - 28 is Sonia Sotomayor Elementary - 65, located about 0.6 miles away. The count of other public schools within five miles is at least 8. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Lowell Elementary - 28 is 5th of 7 on proficiency.
The school's locale code, City: Mid-size, means it is inside a principal city with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
The school's size has been steady, with 435 students in 2020-21 and 426 in 2024-25. Its ratio of students to teachers was 13.2:1 in 2020-21, and 14.3:1 in 2024-25.
People who know Lowell Elementary - 28 can post here about special education services, counseling, and support programs. 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 Lowell Elementary schools
24 other US public schools in 15 states are named Lowell Elementary. Lowell Elementary - 28 is the 7th largest of the 25.
- Lowell ElementaryLong Beach, CA · 609 students
- Lowell Elementary SchoolWaterloo, IA · 538 students
- Lowell ElementaryEverett, WA · 531 students
- Lowell Elementary SchoolIndianapolis, IN · 466 students
- LOWELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLLOWELL, AR · 451 students
Nearby schools
- Sonia Sotomayor Elementary - 650.6 mi · 690
- Susan B. Anthony Elementary - 660.8 mi · 472
- Edison Middle School - 060.9 mi · 937
- Axtell Park Middle School - 471.0 mi · 31
- Structured Teaching - 121.0 mi · 16
- Garfield Elementary - 191.0 mi · 574
Frequently asked questions
About Lowell Elementary - 28How large is Lowell Elementary - 28?
Lowell Elementary - 28 enrolls approximately 426 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Lowell Elementary - 28 serve?
Lowell Elementary - 28 serves grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Lowell Elementary - 28?
Approximately 14.3:1 students per teacher at Lowell Elementary - 28.
How diverse is Lowell Elementary - 28?
Lowell Elementary - 28 reports a student body of 27% White, 34% Hispanic, 13% Black, 3% Asian, 10% Two or more.
Who oversees Lowell Elementary - 28?
Lowell Elementary - 28 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.