The State Department of Education found modest successes and areas in need of improvement on the 2024-25 state report cards.
The state report card is published yearly and reflects the most recent year of education in South Dakota.
The 2024-25 state report cards found students at or above grade level in English rose one percentage point to 52 percent. For math, no increase was tallied, and it holds at 44 percent.
This comes as new statewide math standards are under consideration by the Board of Education Standards.
While attendance is broadly good at 87 percent, the state reports a 20 percent rate of chronic absenteeism. The highest rates of chronic absenteeism can be found in economically disadvantaged students, students in foster care, or students experiencing homelessness.
Overall, on-time graduation rates improved more than any other factor. For the general population, students are graduating at the highest rate in a decade.
Native students saw a five percent jump in on-time graduation rates over last year but still finish primary education at a disproportionately low rate compared to peer groups.
That total does jump for overall graduation rates for every demographic, and 91 percent of South Dakota residents will either graduate on time or receive a high school equivalency at some point.
Generally, South Dakota students are moving on to higher education. In 2024-25 60 percent of the state’s graduates going on to some form of higher education, be it two-year or four-year institutions.
The top destinations for in-state universities University of South Dakota and South Dakota State, while the top trade schools are Lake Area and Southeast Tech.
Leading the classrooms, South Dakota 10,600 primary school educators and administrators offer an average of over 13 years of experience for students, with over one-third holding a master’s degree or higher.