Schools · Custer

Custer, SD schools

Kids attend Custer Elementary - 02 through grade 6, then Custer Jr. High - 05.

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

TownTapestry School GradeNew

Custer’s School Grade: B

The public schools Custer’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, outperform 55% of South Dakota’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they sit near the middle.

C+Test scoresB+Graduation

South Dakota school districts we grade (146)Better than 55%

Lower resultsHigher results

South Dakota towns with similar household incomes (340)Better than 53%

Good confidence. Built on 470 tested students and a graduating class of 68; 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.