Schools · Wakpala

Wakpala, SD schools

Kids attend Wakpala Elementary - 02 through grade 5, then Wakpala Middle School - 04.

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

TownTapestry School GradeNew

Wakpala’s School Grade: D-

The public schools Wakpala’s kids attend trail 99% of South Dakota’s districts on state tests. Among towns with similar incomes, they rank near the bottom.

D-Test scores
South Dakota school districts we grade (146)Better than 1%
Lower resultsHigher results
South Dakota towns with similar household incomes (15)Better than 7%
Lower confidence. Built on 93 tested students. With numbers this small, one year can move 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. 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.
  • 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 Wakpala kids go to school

Grades K–5
C-Wakpala Elementary - 02 95 students · Wakpala Smee School District 15-3
Grades 6–8
DWakpala Middle School - 04 41 students · Wakpala Smee School District 15-3

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 K–8, Smee School District 15-3)7.5%
State average 42.2%
Graduation · class of 2020

69% graduate on time

Graduation rate
69%
SD: 84.5%
Graduating class
16
students

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

Districts

The district serving Wakpala

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

Within reach

Colleges near Wakpala

There’s no college within 30 miles of Wakpala. The closest is Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, ND, 30.2 miles away.

United Tribes Technical CollegeUniversity or college · Private nonprofit · Bismarck77.3 mi385 students

Straight-line distance from the center of Wakpala. 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.

We don’t have any schools located in Wakpala yet.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/19 · 2025-01-01