Schools · Chester

Chester, SD schools

Kids attend Chester Elementary -02 through grade 5, then Chester Middle School - 03 and Chester High School - 01.

Grades, test scores, graduation, spending and every school, from U.S. Department of Education data.

TownTapestry School GradeNew

Chester’s School Grade: D

The public schools Chester’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, trail 92% of South Dakota’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the bottom.

B-Test scoresD-Graduation

South Dakota school districts we grade (146)Better than 8%

Lower resultsHigher results

South Dakota towns with similar household incomes (323)Better than 4%

Towns in Lake County (11)Better than 0%

Good confidence. Built on 218 tested students and a graduating class of 82; ordinary year-to-year swings are unlikely to change the grade.

How the School Grade works

Results, not inputs. Math and reading proficiency on South Dakota’s state tests, each against the state average, plus the four-year graduation rate. Spending and class size are shown below but don’t count toward the grade. Tests: 2020–21; graduation: class of 2020.
The whole path. A town’s grade follows its kids: every district that serves it, weighted by the number of students tested in each. Tests count 60% and graduation 40%.
Graded within the state. Each state writes its own tests, so districts are lined up against the rest of South Dakota only. A+ top 5%A next 10%A- next 10%B B+ to B−, next 30%C C+ to C−, next 30%D D and D−, bottom 15%
Individual schools are graded the same way on their own test results, against every public school in South Dakota with 25+ students. Private schools aren’t graded: they don’t take the state tests.
What a grade can’t tell you. Test results track family income closely, so a high grade partly reflects who lives in a town. That’s why we also compare towns with similar incomes. Visit, ask other parents, and read neighbor reviews. It’s our own summary of U.S. Department of Education data, not an official rating.

School path

Where Chester kids go to school

Grades PK–5

BChester Elementary -02 154 students · Chester Chester School District 39-1

Grades 6–8

B+Chester Middle School - 03 67 students · Chester Chester School District 39-1

Grades 9–12

AChester High School - 01 107 students · Chester Chester School District 39-1

Based on district boundaries from the U.S. Department of Education. Check with the district before you enroll.

Test scores · 2020–21

State test results

Math (grades PK–12, Chester School District 39-1)45%

State average 42.2%

Graduation · class of 2020

37% graduate on time

Graduation rate

37%

SD: 84.5%

Graduating class

students

The share of students who started ninth grade together and earned a regular diploma within four years.

Districts

The district serving Chester

🏫

Chester School District 39-1Grades PK–12 · 7 schools · 582 students

$11,557 per studentSD $13,040D

Each district’s own page has its spending, test scores, enrollment and every school.

Within reach

Colleges near Chester

There’s no college in Chester, but 5 colleges are within 30 miles. The closest is Dakota State University in Madison, 12.3 miles away.

Dakota State UniversityUniversity or college · Public · Madison12.3 mi1,489 students Southeast Technical CollegeCommunity college · Public · Sioux Falls23.3 mi1,963 students University of Sioux FallsUniversity or college · Private nonprofit · Sioux Falls26.5 mi1,390 students Augustana UniversityUniversity or college · Private nonprofit · Sioux Falls27 mi2,056 students

Kairos UniversityUniversity or college · Private nonprofit · Sioux Falls27 mi96 students

Straight-line distance from the center of Chester. Degree-granting colleges with students on campus. Colleges marked › have their own page; the others are too small or don’t report enough to the Department of Education for one.

Every school