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Does Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 have enough mental health and stress support?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
486
Elementary
DISTRICT 386 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RAPID CITY AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 51-4·NCES 465982000823
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12
2601 Covington St, Rapid City, SD 57703 · (605) 393-2221 · Pennington County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY23-SUBURBTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL486 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 33% 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.
- CBeats 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
15.5:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 15.6:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
42%
205 students
DISTRICT 48% · 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 | 11 | 2% |
| Kindergarten | 77 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 79 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 85 | 17% |
| Grade 3 | 82 | 17% |
| Grade 4 | 74 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 78 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (77) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (78).
Student demographics
54%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 61% · 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
44.7%
SD avg 50.3% . +2.9pp since 2022
Math
40.3%
SD avg 47.5% . -6.8pp 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 40 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 3 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 7 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.7% | 40.3% |
| 2023-24 | 43.1% | 40.6% |
| 2022-23 | 41.8% | 47.1% |
% 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
41.5%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
45.7%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-4.3pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 41% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 46% 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 Rapid Valley Elementary - 12
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12's state test result (41.5% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 this school | 486 | 42.2% | 41.5% |
| Vandenberg Elementary - 02 Box Elder | 454 | 40.5% | 46.4% |
| Grandview Elementary - 06 Rapid City | 431 | 39.2% | 44.7% |
| Valley View Elementary - 13 Rapid City | 605 | 41.2% | 30.8% |
| Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary - 04 Mitchell | 379 | 41.2% | 51.0% |
| L. B. Williams Elementary - 03 Mitchell | 438 | 41.3% | 46.3% |
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 Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Pennington County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 41.5% | #132 of 193 | #10 of 18 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 40.3% | #148 of 199 ▼ 8 | #11 of 19 no change |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.7% | #126 of 202 ▲ 7 | #9 of 19 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 486 | #28 of 331 | #3 of 19 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.5:1 | #96 of 131 | #9 of 17 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.1% | #41 of 131 | #12 of 17 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 42.2% | #71 of 209 | #6 of 19 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -13.5% | #37 of 87 | #4 of 14 |
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
486
-31 (-6%) vs 2020
+114% since 1990-91, when it was 227
Student : Teacher
15.5:1
was 15.2:1
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 | 486 | 31.3 | 15.5:1 | 42% (205) |
| 2023-24 | 487 | 30.8 | 15.8:1 | 34% (167) |
| 2022-23 | 514 | 31.2 | 16.5:1 | 36% (185) |
| 2020-21 | 517 | 34 | 15.2:1 | 32% (167) |
| 2017-18 | 562 | 32.9 | 17.1:1 | 42% (237) |
| 2015-16 | 577 | 32 | 18.0:1 | 46% (263) |
| 2010-11 | 550 | 35 | 15.7:1 | 44% (242) |
| 2000-01 | 600 | 36 | 16.7:1 | 32% (192) |
| 1990-91 | 227 | 34 | 6.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Rapid Valley Elementary - 12.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (562 to 486); teachers down 5% (32.9 to 31.3).
About Rapid Valley Elementary - 12
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 is an elementary school in Rapid City, South Dakota, reachable at (605) 393-2221. The school enrolls 486 students, from pre-K through 5. Average enrollment for elementary schools in South Dakota is about 204, so this school runs 138% above that.
Rapid City Area School District 51-4 runs 26 schools with a combined 12,610 students. Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 is one of them.
White students are the majority at Rapid Valley Elementary - 12, with 65% of enrollment. It is also 13% multiracial, 11% Hispanic, and 10% Native American. Pennington County's residents are about 79% White, 14 points above the school's share. Rapid Valley Elementary - 12's diversity index is 54%, against a US figure of 70%.
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 employs 31.3 full-time-equivalent teachers. That gives a ratio of about 15.5:1. That is close to the 15.4:1 average for elementary schools in South Dakota. Free or reduced-price lunch eligibility was 42% in 2024-25. For comparison, public schools in Pennington County average 41%.
Measured against South Dakota public elementary schools, Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 receives a C. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 is 4.3 points below the average proficiency rate on state tests predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 41.5% actual, 45.7% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in South Dakota.
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 is located in Pennington County, where the median household income is $74,517, roughly 35% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 7%. Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 is one of 41 public schools in the county.
The closest public school, Valley View Elementary - 13, is about 1.2 miles from Rapid Valley Elementary - 12. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 places 2nd of 7 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 has an NCES locale of Suburb: Small.
Enrollment dropped 6% from its 2020-21 level of 517.
The Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 community page is open for posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Pennington County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
113,512
Census ACS
Median income
$74,517
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
41
16,186 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Rapid City Area School District 51-4
- Central High School - 41High · 1,998 students
- Stevens High School - 42High · 1,771 students
- South Middle School - 36Middle · 618 students
- Southwest Middle School - 38Middle · 614 students
- East Middle School - 30Middle · 613 students
- Valley View Elementary - 13Elementary · 605 students
Other schools in Rapid City
- Central High School - 41High · 1,998 students
- Stevens High School - 42High · 1,771 students
- South Middle School - 36Middle · 618 students
- Southwest Middle School - 38Middle · 614 students
- East Middle School - 30Middle · 613 students
- Valley View Elementary - 13Elementary · 605 students
Nearby schools
- Valley View Elementary - 131.2 mi · 605
- East Middle School - 301.3 mi · 613
- Robbinsdale Elementary - 143.2 mi · 328
- Wellfully - 653.4 mi · 7
- South Middle School - 363.6 mi · 618
- Grandview Elementary - 063.6 mi · 431
Frequently asked questions
About Rapid Valley Elementary - 12How large is Rapid Valley Elementary - 12?
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 enrolls approximately 486 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 serve?
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Rapid Valley Elementary - 12?
Approximately 15.5:1 students per teacher at Rapid Valley Elementary - 12.
How diverse is Rapid Valley Elementary - 12?
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 reports a student body of 65% White, 11% Hispanic, 0% Black, 1% Asian, 13% Two or more.
Who oversees Rapid Valley Elementary - 12?
Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 is overseen by Rapid City Area School District 51-4 in Pennington County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.