Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17

Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 is a sprawling K-5 school in Rapid City, South Dakota, one of the schools within Rapid City Area School District 51-4. The school serves 328 students in grades K through 5. That puts it 61% bigger than the typical public school in South Dakota, which averages around 204 students.

Rapid City Area School District 51-4 runs 26 schools in total, collectively educating 12,610 students. Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 reports that 52% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Other groups include 19% Native American, 13% Hispanic, 10% multiracial, 4% Black. By comparison, Pennington County as a whole is about 79% White, so the school skews visibly less White than its surroundings.

Looking at school resources, On paper, Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 has 21 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 15.8:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 42% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

After controlling for student poverty, Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 45.9%; this one delivers 41.0%.

Zooming out to the county, census data for Pennington County shows median household income runs about $74,517, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 7%. Across Pennington County's 41 public schools (combined enrollment of about 16,186 students), Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Rapid City Online High School - 92, around 0.7 miles off. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Woodrow Wilson Elementary - 17 at 2nd of 5; the average score across the group is 29.9%.

The campus sits in an inner-city setting.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count contracted 7%: 353 students in 2018 compared to 328 in 2025. Over the same period, the White share fell from 60% to 52%. Class-load math has tightened: from 17.2:1 in 2018 to 15.8:1 in 2025.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.