Enrollment
347
Elementary
DISTRICT 218 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·BELLE FOURCHE SCHOOL DISTRICT 09-1·NCES 460561000269
South Park Elementary - 03
1816 Valley Dr, Belle Fourche, SD 57717 · (605) 723-3382 · Butte County
GRADES 01–04ELEMENTARY33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL347 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 49% 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.
- 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.
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
11.5:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.1:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
187 students
DISTRICT 42% · 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 | 77 | 22% |
| Grade 2 | 90 | 26% |
| Grade 3 | 87 | 25% |
| Grade 4 | 93 | 27% |
This year's 1st grade class (77) is 17% smaller than its 4th grade class (93).
Student demographics
30%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 28% · 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
South Park Elementary - 03→Belle Fourche Middle School - 07
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Belle Fourche School District 09-1. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
42.6%
SD avg 50.3% . +5.6pp since 2022
Math
47.7%
SD avg 47.5% . +4.8pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 43 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 48 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 5 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 42.6% | 47.7% |
| 2023-24 | 38.2% | 44.6% |
| 2022-23 | 37.0% | 42.9% |
% 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
43.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
40.9%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+2.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 43% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 41% 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 South Park Elementary - 03
South Park Elementary - 03's state test result (43.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Park Elementary - 03 this school | 347 | 53.9% | 43.3% |
| Mellette Elementary - 07 Watertown | 267 | 47.6% | 44.1% |
| Longfellow Elementary - 05 Mitchell | 290 | 45.5% | 52.0% |
| Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary - 04 Mitchell | 379 | 41.2% | 51.0% |
| Rapid Valley Elementary - 12 Rapid City | 486 | 42.2% | 41.5% |
| 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 South Park Elementary - 03 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 43.3% | #128 of 193 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 47.7% | #114 of 199 ▲ 11 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 42.6% | #138 of 202 ▲ 10 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 347 | #77 of 331 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.5:1 | #17 of 131 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 29.9% | #91 of 131 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 53.9% | #46 of 209 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -15.0% | #29 of 87 |
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
347
-60 (-15%) vs 2020
-17% since 2000-01, when it was 416
Student : Teacher
11.5:1
was 13.6:1
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 | 347 | 30.1 | 11.5:1 | 54% (187) |
| 2023-24 | 396 | 31.2 | 12.7:1 | 44% (173) |
| 2022-23 | 382 | 32.5 | 11.8:1 | 40% (154) |
| 2020-21 | 407 | 30 | 13.6:1 | 37% (151) |
| 2017-18 | 408 | 30 | 13.6:1 | 47% (192) |
| 2015-16 | 434 | 31 | 14.0:1 | 52% (225) |
| 2010-11 | 406 | 26 | 15.6:1 | 52% (211) |
| 2000-01 | 416 | 29 | 14.3:1 | 44% (183) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for South Park Elementary - 03.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (408 to 347); teachers unchanged (30 to 30.1).
About South Park Elementary - 03
South Park Elementary - 03 is a large elementary school in Belle Fourche, South Dakota, (ZIP code 57717). It reported 347 students in grades 1 through 4 in 2024-25. Elementary schools in South Dakota have about 204 students on average; enrollment here is 70% higher.
The Belle Fourche School District 09-1 system has 5 schools and 1,274 students.
White students are 83% of those enrolled at South Park Elementary - 03. Next come 9% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, and 2% Native American. Its diversity index, the chance that two randomly chosen students belong to different racial or ethnic groups, is 30%.
South Park Elementary - 03 has 30.1 full-time-equivalent teachers on staff and a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.5:1. The school's 11.5:1 compares with an average of 15.4:1 for elementary schools in South Dakota. The school has 54% of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The 44% average for public schools in Butte County is 10 points lower.
South Park Elementary - 03 holds a B- allk12 Grade, placing it above 49% of South Dakota public elementary schools.
South Park Elementary - 03's average proficiency rate across its state test results of 43.3% is 2.3 points above the 40.9% the model predicts from its lunch-eligibility share.
Looking at the county, Butte County, the median household earns about $75,652 a year, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 20%, and roughly 7% of residents are in poverty. Butte County has 8 public schools with about 1,504 students, including South Park Elementary - 03.
Of the public schools around it, South Park Elementary - 03 is closest to Belle Fourche High School - 01, about 0.7 miles away. There are 4 other public schools within five miles. South Park Elementary - 03 ranks 4th of 6 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 43.3% against a local average of 48.8%.
The school is in a town far from an urbanized area, according to its NCES locale (Town: Remote).
Over 4 years, enrollment decreased by 60 students, from 407 to 347. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 13.6:1; by 2024-25 it was 11.5:1.
This page is set up for the South Park Elementary - 03 community to discuss open houses, carpools, and field trips. Members of the school community can share what they know.
Butte County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
10,676
Census ACS
Median income
$75,652
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
20%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
8
1,504 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Belle Fourche School District 09-1
- Belle Fourche Middle School - 07Middle · 414 students
- Belle Fourche High School - 01High · 389 students
- North Park Elementary - 08Elementary · 89 students
- Belle Fourche Education Connection - 09High · 35 students
Other schools in Belle Fourche
- Belle Fourche Middle School - 07Middle · 414 students
- Belle Fourche High School - 01High · 389 students
- North Park Elementary - 08Elementary · 89 students
- Belle Fourche Education Connection - 09High · 35 students
Other South Park Elementary schools
7 other US public schools in 7 states are named South Park Elementary. South Park Elementary - 03 is the 5th largest of the 8.
- South Park Elementary - 16Rapid City, SD · 313 students
- South Park ElementaryLos Angeles, CA · 825 students
- South Park ElementaryMemphis, TN · 462 students
- South Park Elementary SchoolDeerfield, IL · 424 students
- South Park ElementaryVICKSBURG, MS · 351 students
Nearby schools
- Belle Fourche High School - 010.7 mi · 389
- Belle Fourche Education Connection - 090.7 mi · 35
- Belle Fourche Middle School - 070.9 mi · 414
- North Park Elementary - 081.6 mi · 89
- Creekside Elementary - 0710.4 mi · 553
- Spearfish High School - 0110.9 mi · 787
Frequently asked questions
About South Park Elementary - 03What is the total enrollment at South Park Elementary - 03?
South Park Elementary - 03 enrolls approximately 347 students in grades 01-04.
What grades does South Park Elementary - 03 serve?
South Park Elementary - 03 serves grades 01-04.
What is the student-teacher ratio at South Park Elementary - 03?
The student-to-teacher ratio at South Park Elementary - 03 is approximately 11.5:1 (30 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at South Park Elementary - 03?
At South Park Elementary - 03, the student body is approximately 83% White, 9% Hispanic, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees South Park Elementary - 03?
South Park Elementary - 03 is overseen by Belle Fourche School District 09-1 in Butte County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.