Enrollment
138
Elementary
DISTRICT 160 · STATE 204
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MEADE SCHOOL DISTRICT 46-1·NCES 466993000652
Whitewood Elementary - 04
603 Garfield St, Whitewood, SD 57793 · (605) 269-2264 · Lawrence County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY42-RURALTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL138 STUDENTS
A+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 97% of South Dakota public elementary schools
- A+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A+Beats 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
13.6:1
10 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.4:1 · STATE 15.4:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
47%
65 students
DISTRICT 29% · 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 | 21 | 15% |
| Kindergarten | 19 | 14% |
| Grade 1 | 21 | 15% |
| Grade 2 | 22 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 15 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 18 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 22 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (19) is 14% smaller than its 5th grade class (22).
Student demographics
18%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 24% · 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
70.6%
SD avg 50.3% . -13.8pp since 2022
Math
78.4%
SD avg 47.5% . -8.3pp since 2022
What this means: On the SD Smarter Balanced, South Dakota's statewide test, about 71 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 78 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 14 points since 2022, while math scores are down about 8 points.
SD Smarter Balanced results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 70.6% | 78.4% |
| 2023-24 | 70.0% | 80.0% |
| 2022-23 | 84.4% | 86.7% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of SD schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
74.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.7%
based on SD schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+30.6pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 74% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 44% typical for South Dakota schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 31 points, placing it in South Dakota's top 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 Whitewood Elementary - 04
Whitewood Elementary - 04's state test result (74.3% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitewood Elementary - 04 this school | 138 | 47.1% | 74.3% |
| Newell Elementary - 02 Newell | 124 | 47.6% | 48.9% |
| Lemmon Elementary - 02 Lemmon | 139 | 48.2% | 56.2% |
| Willow Lake Elementary - 02 Willow Lake | 153 | 48.4% | 40.4% |
| Waverly-South Shore Elementary - 02 Waverly | 128 | 50.8% | 34.1% |
| Wessington Springs Elementary - 02 Wessington Springs | 145 | 41.4% | 54.1% |
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 Whitewood Elementary - 04 ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In South Dakota |
|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 74.3% | #7 of 193 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 78.4% | #8 of 199 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 70.6% | #10 of 202 ▲ 5 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 138 | #180 of 331 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 47.1% | #61 of 209 |
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
138
+50 (+57%) vs 2020
-19% since 1990-91, when it was 171
Student : Teacher
13.6:1
was 9.8:1
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 | 138 | 10.2 | 13.6:1 | 47% (65) |
| 2023-24 | 124 | 10.5 | 11.9:1 | 43% (53) |
| 2022-23 | 109 | 9.3 | 11.8:1 | 34% (37) |
| 2020-21 | 88 | 9 | 9.8:1 | 41% (36) |
| 2017-18 | 97 | 9.6 | 10.2:1 | 46% (45) |
| 2015-16 | 107 | 10 | 10.7:1 | 59% (63) |
| 2010-11 | 125 | 11 | 11.4:1 | 51% (64) |
| 2000-01 | 116 | 10 | 11.6:1 | 38% (44) |
| 1990-91 | 171 | 8 | 21.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Whitewood Elementary - 04.
Since 2017-18: students up 42% (97 to 138); teachers up 6% (9.6 to 10.2).
About Whitewood Elementary - 04
Whitewood Elementary - 04 is classified as an elementary school. It is located in Whitewood, South Dakota. Grades offered run from pre-K through 5, with 138 students enrolled. For comparison, elementary schools in South Dakota average about 204 students.
Meade School District 46-1 is made up of 11 schools with 3,047 students in all.
Federal enrollment data show Whitewood Elementary - 04 is 91% White. Other groups include 4% Native American, 3% multiracial, and 2% Hispanic. County-wide, about 90% of residents are White. Pick two students at random and there is an 18% chance they belong to different racial or ethnic groups; that figure is the school's diversity index.
Teacher staffing is 10.2 full-time equivalents, or about 13.6 students per teacher. This ratio sits 1.8 below the 15.4:1 average for elementary schools in South Dakota. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 47%. It compares with 22% for public schools in Lawrence County.
Whitewood Elementary - 04 is graded A+ by allk12, scoring above 97% of South Dakota public elementary schools once test results, poverty-adjusted performance, and the recent trend are combined.
After accounting for student poverty, Whitewood Elementary - 04 is in the top 10% of South Dakota schools. Its average proficiency rate on state tests of 74.3% is 30.6 points above the 43.7% predicted for its lunch-eligibility share.
In the county around the school, Lawrence County, the median household income is $73,384, 33% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 8% of people live in poverty. There are 14 public schools in Lawrence County, enrolling about 3,183 students in all.
The nearest public school is Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02, at about 7.0 miles. Around the school, 6 other public schools are within ten miles. On state test proficiency, Whitewood Elementary - 04 ranks 1st in a group of 5 nearby schools.
The school is in rural territory some distance from an urban area, according to its NCES locale (Rural: Distant).
The 2020-21 count was 88 students and the 2024-25 count was 138. A difference that large may reflect a change in which grades the school serves. The ratio was 9.8:1 in 2020-21 and 13.6:1 in 2024-25.
The Whitewood Elementary - 04 community page is open for posts about sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.
Lawrence County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
27,233
Census ACS
Median income
$73,384
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
33%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
14
3,183 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Meade School District 46-1
- Sturgis Brown High School - 01High · 845 students
- Sturgis Elementary - 03Elementary · 531 students
- Piedmont Valley Elementary - 05Elementary · 514 students
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 02Middle · 490 students
- Stagebarn Middle School - 10Middle · 432 students
- Central Meade County School - 09Elementary · 49 students
Nearby schools
- Sturgis Williams Middle School - 027.0 mi · 490
- Sturgis Elementary - 037.2 mi · 531
- Lead-Deadwood Elementary - 037.7 mi · 243
- Sturgis Brown High School - 019.0 mi · 845
- Spearfish Academy at Canyon Hills High School - 109.1 mi · 21
- Spearfish Academy at Canyon Hills Elementary - 099.1 mi · 2
Frequently asked questions
About Whitewood Elementary - 04How many students attend Whitewood Elementary - 04?
Whitewood Elementary - 04 enrolls approximately 138 students in grades PK-05.
Is Whitewood Elementary - 04 an elementary, middle, or high school?
Whitewood Elementary - 04 is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Whitewood Elementary - 04 have?
Whitewood Elementary - 04 employs 10 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.6:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Whitewood Elementary - 04?
At Whitewood Elementary - 04, the student body is approximately 91% White, 2% Hispanic, 1% Black, 3% Two or more.
What district is Whitewood Elementary - 04 in?
Whitewood Elementary - 04 is part of Meade School District 46-1.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.