Enrollment
297
Middle
DISTRICT 236 · STATE 187
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WEST CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT 49-7·NCES 463171000909
West Central Middle School - 04
705 E 2nd St, Hartford, SD 57033 · (605) 528-3799 · Minnehaha County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE42-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL297 STUDENTS
C
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 29% of South Dakota public middle schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats 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 middle schools
Student : Teacher
15.1:1
20 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 20.8:1 · STATE 13.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
14%
41 students
DISTRICT 12% · STATE 42%
Community
0
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 | 110 | 37% |
| Grade 7 | 95 | 32% |
| Grade 8 | 92 | 31% |
Student demographics
18%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 19% · 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
West Central Middle School - 04→West Central High School - 01
Based on grade levels within West Central School District 49-7. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
QUIET COMMUNITY
Be the first to start a discussion at West Central Middle School - 04.
START A DISCUSSIONTest scores
SD Smarter Balanced 2024-25 . % ProficientEnglish Language Arts
46.9%
SD avg 50.3% . -6.5pp since 2022
Math
44.8%
SD avg 47.5% . -1.2pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 47 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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 7 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 1 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 46.9% | 44.8% |
| 2023-24 | 48.0% | 44.9% |
| 2022-23 | 53.4% | 46.0% |
% 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
44.2%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
57.4%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-13.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 44% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 57% 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 West Central Middle School - 04
West Central Middle School - 04's state test result (44.2% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Central Middle School - 04 this school | 297 | 13.8% | 44.2% |
| Dell Rapids Middle School - 03 Dell Rapids | 295 | 15.6% | 66.1% |
| Lennox Intermediate - 09 Lennox | 185 | 16.2% | 62.6% |
| Sioux Valley Middle School - 04 Volga | 156 | 14.1% | 49.3% |
| Lennox Jr. High - 08 Lennox | 169 | 15.4% | 66.8% |
| Canton Middle School - 04 Canton | 194 | 21.6% | 51.2% |
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 West Central Middle School - 04 ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota | In Minnehaha County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 44.2% | #44 of 64 | #11 of 13 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.8% | #36 of 64 ▼ 5 | #9 of 13 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 46.9% | #49 of 65 ▼ 1 | #11 of 13 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 297 | #35 of 165 | #9 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 15.1:1 | #28 of 42 | #5 of 11 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 17.7% | #40 of 42 | #10 of 11 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 13.8% | #63 of 65 | #13 of 13 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -7.5% | #16 of 26 | #5 of 6 |
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
297
-8 (-3%) vs 2020
+99% since 1990-91, when it was 149
Student : Teacher
15.1:1
was 16.1:1
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 | 297 | 19.7 | 15.1:1 | 14% (41) |
| 2023-24 | 302 | 19.5 | 15.5:1 | 13% (40) |
| 2022-23 | 303 | 20.2 | 15.0:1 | 11% (34) |
| 2020-21 | 305 | 19 | 16.1:1 | 15% (46) |
| 2017-18 | 321 | 19.5 | 16.4:1 | 16% (51) |
| 2015-16 | 301 | 19 | 15.8:1 | 14% (41) |
| 2010-11 | 261 | 17 | 15.3:1 | 15% (39) |
| 2000-01 | 275 | 17 | 16.2:1 | 0% (0) |
| 1990-91 | 149 | 1 | 149.0:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for West Central Middle School - 04.
Since 2017-18: students down 7% (321 to 297); teachers up 1% (19.5 to 19.7).
About West Central Middle School - 04
West Central Middle School - 04 is a large middle school. Its address is in Hartford, South Dakota. There are 297 students enrolled, covering grades 6 through 8. Across middle schools in South Dakota, the average enrollment is about 187.
West Central School District 49-7 oversees West Central Middle School - 04 and 5 other schools, with 1,418 students in total.
A large majority of enrollment at West Central Middle School - 04 is White, at 91%. It is also 4% multiracial, 3% Hispanic, and 2% Native American. Minnehaha County's residents are about 80% White, 11 points below the school's share. On the diversity index, which measures the chance that two random students are from different groups, West Central Middle School - 04 scores 18%.
There are 19.7 full-time-equivalent teachers at the school, a ratio of 15.1:1. Compared with the 13.4:1 average for middle schools in South Dakota, this school's ratio is higher. On the income side, 14% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Minnehaha County is 42%.
Among South Dakota public middle schools, West Central Middle School - 04 outscored 29%, which works out to a C on the allk12 Grade.
On the allk12 BeatsExpectations measure, West Central Middle School - 04 is 13.2 points below the average proficiency rate across its state test results predicted for its free or reduced-price lunch share: 44.2% actual, 57.4% predicted. That is outside both the top and bottom 10% in South Dakota.
Minnehaha County is the school's county. There, median household income comes to about $76,880, 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Minnehaha County's 83 public schools enroll about 34,919 students and include West Central Middle School - 04.
West Central High School - 01 is less than a tenth of a mile from West Central Middle School - 04, the shortest distance to any other public school. Counting only straight-line distance, 4 other public schools are within five miles. By average proficiency, West Central Middle School - 04 is 5th among 6 schools close by.
West Central Middle School - 04 is coded as Rural: Distant in federal locale data.
Enrollment decreased 3% over 4 years, reaching 297 in 2024-25.
This page is set up for the West Central Middle School - 04 community to discuss open houses, carpools, and field trips. Members of the school community can share what they know.
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 West Central School District 49-7
- West Central High School - 01High · 408 students
- West Central Hartford Elementary - 05Elementary · 368 students
- West Central Humboldt Elementary - 02Elementary · 310 students
- Falls Academy - 08High · 29 students
- Brighten Transition Youth Treatment Center - 07High · 6 students
Other schools in Hartford
- West Central High School - 01High · 408 students
- West Central Hartford Elementary - 05Elementary · 368 students
Other West Central Middle schools
2 other US public schools in 3 states are named West Central Middle. West Central Middle School - 04 is the largest of the 3.
- West Central Middle SchoolStronghurst, IL · 169 students
- West Central Middle SchoolFrancesville, IN · 89 students
Nearby schools
- West Central High School - 010.1 mi · 408
- West Central Hartford Elementary - 050.3 mi · 368
- Brighten Transition Youth Treatment Center - 074.6 mi · 6
- Falls Academy - 084.6 mi · 29
- Tri-Valley Elementary in Crooks - 046.5 mi · 205
- West Central Humboldt Elementary - 027.0 mi · 310
Frequently asked questions
About West Central Middle School - 04What is the total enrollment at West Central Middle School - 04?
West Central Middle School - 04 enrolls approximately 297 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does West Central Middle School - 04 serve?
West Central Middle School - 04 serves grades 06-08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at West Central Middle School - 04?
The student-to-teacher ratio at West Central Middle School - 04 is approximately 15.1:1 (20 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at West Central Middle School - 04?
Student demographics at West Central Middle School - 04 are roughly 91% White, 3% Hispanic, 1% Black, 4% Two or more.
What district is West Central Middle School - 04 in?
West Central Middle School - 04 is part of West Central School District 49-7.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.