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How has Tea Area Middle School - 02 changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
583
Middle
DISTRICT 502 · STATE 187
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·TEA AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT 41-5·NCES 460005200853
Tea Area Middle School - 02
515 W Brian St, Tea, SD 57064 · (605) 498-2700 · Lincoln County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE31-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL583 STUDENTS
B+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 67% of South Dakota public middle schools
- B+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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
31 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.0:1 · STATE 13.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
22%
127 students
DISTRICT 23% · 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 | 192 | 33% |
| Grade 7 | 205 | 35% |
| Grade 8 | 186 | 32% |
Student demographics
34%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
Tea Area Middle School - 02→Tea Area High School - 03
Feeds from
Based on grade levels within Tea Area School District 41-5. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
55.3%
SD avg 50.3% . +8.4pp since 2022
Math
54.7%
SD avg 47.5% . +4.5pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 55 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 8 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 | 55.3% | 54.7% |
| 2023-24 | 49.4% | 54.7% |
| 2022-23 | 46.9% | 50.2% |
% 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
51.9%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
54.1%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-2.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 52% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 54% 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 Tea Area Middle School - 02
Tea Area Middle School - 02's state test result (51.9% proficient) is higher than 2 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tea Area Middle School - 02 this school | 583 | 21.8% | 51.9% |
| Brandon Valley Intermediate - 07 Brandon | 829 | 20.6% | 70.7% |
| Brandon Valley Middle School - 02 Brandon | 759 | 18.3% | 63.8% |
| George S. Mickelson Middle School - 02 Brookings | 780 | 21.5% | 41.1% |
| Tri-Valley Intermediate School - 03 Colton | 296 | 22.6% | 47.0% |
| Harrisburg South Middle School - 03 Harrisburg | 519 | 20.2% | 54.8% |
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 Tea Area Middle School - 02 ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Lincoln County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 51.9% | #22 of 64 | #5 of 7 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 54.7% | #13 of 64 ▲ 1 | #4 of 7 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 55.3% | #33 of 65 ▲ 10 | #7 of 7 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 583 | #18 of 165 | #1 of 7 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 19.1:1 | #42 of 42 | N/A |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 34.3% | #30 of 42 | N/A |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 21.8% | #46 of 65 | #1 of 7 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +9.4% | #8 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
583
+83 (+17%) vs 2020
+99% since 2010-11, when it was 293
Student : Teacher
19.1:1
was 19.2:1
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 | 583 | 30.6 | 19.1:1 | 22% (127) |
| 2023-24 | 556 | 31.8 | 17.5:1 | 20% (110) |
| 2022-23 | 563 | 31.7 | 17.8:1 | 14% (78) |
| 2020-21 | 500 | 26 | 19.2:1 | 19% (95) |
| 2017-18 | 533 | 31.9 | 16.7:1 | 19% (101) |
| 2015-16 | 341 | 19 | 17.9:1 | 17% (57) |
| 2010-11 | 293 | 17 | 17.2:1 | 24% (71) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Tea Area Middle School - 02.
Since 2017-18: students up 9% (533 to 583); teachers down 4% (31.9 to 30.6).
About Tea Area Middle School - 02
Tea Area Middle School - 02 is a high-enrollment middle-grades school in South Dakota, with an address in Tea. It is open to students in grades 6 through 8 and enrolls 583 students. That is 212% larger than the average of about 187 students for middle schools in South Dakota.
Tea Area School District 41-5 serves 2,509 students across 5 schools.
Tea Area Middle School - 02 is 80% White by enrollment. The rest of enrollment is 6% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 5% Black, and 2% Native American. Census estimates put the White share of Lincoln County's population at about 90%. The diversity index for Tea Area Middle School - 02 is 34%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
A staff of 30.6 full-time-equivalent teachers puts the student-to-teacher ratio at 19.1:1. Compared with the 13.4:1 average for middle schools in South Dakota, this school's ratio is higher. By family income, 22% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.
Among South Dakota public middle schools, Tea Area Middle School - 02 outscored 67%, which works out to a B+ on the allk12 Grade.
Tea Area Middle School - 02 sits between the top and bottom 10% of South Dakota schools on BeatsExpectations, with an actual average proficiency rate across its state test results of 51.9% and a predicted 54.1%.
Lincoln County is the school's county. There, the median household earns about $99,166 a year, roughly 44% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and about 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Public schools in Lincoln County number 26, with about 10,530 students.
The closest school to Tea Area Middle School - 02 is Tea Area High School - 03, located about 0.1 miles away. Tea Area Middle School - 02 is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. Local comparison: Tea Area Middle School - 02 ranks 6th of 7 nearby schools, at 51.9% versus a 61.1% average.
NCES assigns Tea Area Middle School - 02 the locale Town: Fringe, meaning in a town close to an urbanized area.
Enrollment increased by 17% across 4 years, from 500 in 2020-21 to 583 in 2024-25.
People can post here about open houses, carpools, and field trips and other school topics. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
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 Tea Area School District 41-5
- Tea Area High School - 03High · 717 students
- Tea Area Legacy Elementary - 01Elementary · 538 students
- Tea Area Venture Elementary - 06Elementary · 379 students
- Tea Area Frontier Elementary - 05Elementary · 292 students
- Tea Area Preschool - 07Elementary
Other schools in Tea
- Tea Area High School - 03High · 717 students
- Tea Area Legacy Elementary - 01Elementary · 538 students
- Tea Area Venture Elementary - 06Elementary · 379 students
- Tea Area Preschool - 07Elementary
Nearby schools
- Tea Area High School - 030.1 mi · 717
- Tea Area Legacy Elementary - 010.2 mi · 538
- Tea Area Venture Elementary - 060.9 mi · 379
- RF Pettigrew Elementary - 173.7 mi · 846
- Explorer Elementary - 043.8 mi · 338
- Adventure Elementary - 104.0 mi · 440
Frequently asked questions
About Tea Area Middle School - 02How large is Tea Area Middle School - 02?
Tea Area Middle School - 02 enrolls approximately 583 students in grades 06-08.
What age range does Tea Area Middle School - 02 serve?
Tea Area Middle School - 02 serves students from grade 06 through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Tea Area Middle School - 02?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Tea Area Middle School - 02 is approximately 19.1:1 (31 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Tea Area Middle School - 02?
At Tea Area Middle School - 02, the student body is approximately 80% White, 6% Hispanic, 5% Black, 1% Asian, 5% Two or more.
Who oversees Tea Area Middle School - 02?
Tea Area Middle School - 02 is overseen by Tea Area School District 41-5 in Lincoln County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.