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South Dakota school board elections, 2023

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South Dakota was one of 10 states where Ballotpedia provided comprehensive school board election coverage in 2023.
View our analysis of the state's school board elections here. Learn more about our comprehensive coverage here.


Elections

Ballotpedia is covering all other school board elections in South Dakota, including those outside of our regular coverage scope. Use the links below to view all covered elections in South Dakota.




Academic performance

See also: Public education in South Dakota

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Education terms
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For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
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NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The table below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Montana, Nebraska, and North Dakota), South Dakota had the smallest share of fourth grade students that scored at or above proficient in both math and reading.[1]

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
Math - Grade 4 Math - Grade 8 Reading - Grade 4 Reading - Grade 8
South Dakota 40% 38% 32% 36%
Montana 45% 40% 35% 40%
Nebraska 45% 36% 37% 37%
North Dakota 48% 41% 34% 34%
United States 41% 34% 34% 34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables"

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for South Dakota and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.[1][2][3]

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.[4]

South Dakota schools reported a graduation rate of 82.7 percent, lowest among its neighboring states.

In South Dakota, more students took the ACT than the SAT, earning an average ACT score of 21.9.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State Graduation rate, 2013 Average ACT composite, 2013 Average SAT composite, 2013
Percent Quintile ranking** Score Participation rate Score Participation rate
South Dakota 82.7% Third 21.9 78% 1760 3%
Montana 84.4% Third 21.3 72% 1595 25%
Nebraska 88.5% First 21.5 84% 1734 4%
North Dakota 87.5% First 20.5 98% 1799 2%
United States 81.4% 20.9 54% 1498 50%
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally.
Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express"
ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores"
The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013"

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades nine through 12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for South Dakota was lower than the national average at 2.6 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 3.1 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.[5]

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for South Dakota
 South DakotaU.S.
Total population:857,919316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):75,8113,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:85%73.6%
Black/African American:1.6%12.6%
Asian:1.2%5.1%
Native American:8.6%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0%0.2%
Two or more:2.6%3%
Hispanic/Latino:3.3%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:90.9%86.7%
College graduation rate:27%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$50,957$53,889
Persons below poverty level:15.3%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in South Dakota.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in South Dakota

South Dakota voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, five are located in South Dakota, accounting for 2.43 percent of the total pivot counties.[6]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. South Dakota had four Retained Pivot Counties and one Boomerang Pivot County, accounting for 2.21 and 4.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More South Dakota coverage on Ballotpedia

Pivot Counties

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Five of 66 South Dakota counties—7.6 percent—are Pivot Counties. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Corson County, South Dakota 4.51% 11.08% 21.48%
Day County, South Dakota 23.77% 6.16% 12.89%
Marshall County, South Dakota 15.51% 8.66% 16.48%
Roberts County, South Dakota 15.53% 9.84% 19.64%
Ziebach County, South Dakota 1.96% 16.43% 27.16%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won South Dakota with 61.5 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 31.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, South Dakota cast votes for the winning presidential candidate 63.3 percent of the time. In that same time frame, South Dakota supported Republican candidates for president more often than Democratic candidates, 86.7 to 10.0 percent. The state favored Republicans in every presidential election between 2000 and 2016.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in South Dakota. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[7][8]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won six out of 37 state House districts in South Dakota with an average margin of victory of 19.9 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won four out of 37 state House districts in South Dakota with an average margin of victory of 12.7 points. Clinton won one district controlled by a Republican heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 31 out of 37 state House districts in South Dakota with an average margin of victory of 22.4 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 33 out of 37 state House districts in South Dakota with an average margin of victory of 32.5 points. Trump won five districts controlled by Democrats heading into the 2018 elections.

Additional elections

See also: South Dakota elections, 2023

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See also

South Dakota School Boards News and Analysis
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Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014
  2. ↑ ACT, "2012 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 13, 2014
  3. ↑ Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT Scores by State 2013," October 10, 2013
  4. ↑ StudyPoints, "What's a good SAT score or ACT score?" accessed June 7, 2015
  5. ↑ United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Dropout and Graduation Rate Data File, School Year 2010-11, Provision Version 1a and School Year 2011-12, Preliminary Version 1a," accessed May 13, 2014
  6. ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
  7. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts," July 9, 2013
  8. ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2016 presidential results for congressional and legislative districts," February 6, 2017
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