Oglala Lakota Improved as Reservation-Community Districts Still Led South Dakota's Absence List

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Oglala Lakota County^↗ lowered its chronic-absence rate by 11.3 percentage points from 2022 to 2025. The improvement moved the district from 68.3% to 57.0%, even though its rate remained among South Dakota's highest.

The broader geographic concentration did not disappear. Among districts with at least 250 students, five reservation-community systems occupied the five highest-rate positions in 2025: Todd County^↗, Eagle Butte^↗, Oglala Lakota County, McLaughlin^↗ and Dupree^↗.

The highest district rates were clustered

The 250-student cutoff is an editorial comparison threshold, not an accountability rule. It retained 108 districts representing 95.3% of students in district records. The same five systems remained in the top six at cutoffs of 100 and 250 students.

Todd County had the highest rate: 1,640 of 2,275 students met the state's chronic-absence definition, or 72.1%. That was 3.6 times South Dakota's 20.3% rate. Eagle Butte followed at 68.8%, Oglala Lakota County at 57.0%, McLaughlin at 44.5% and Dupree at 43.6%. Bennett County was sixth at 36.4%.

The South Dakota Department of Education's school district map supplies the reservation geography behind the comparison. It locates Todd County in the Rosebud area, Eagle Butte and Dupree in the Cheyenne River area, Oglala Lakota County in the Pine Ridge area and McLaughlin in the Standing Rock area.

That location is context, not a causal finding. The aggregate records show where reported rates were concentrated. They do not identify why individual students missed school or test which local conditions shaped the pattern.

Improvement from a high starting point

Oglala Lakota County's four-year path was uneven: 68.3%, 61.9%, 64.2% and 57.0%. Its 11.3-point net decline is still meaningful, but one additional year would not establish a durable trend.

Todd County moved from 76.0% to 72.1% over the full period, while Eagle Butte moved from 22.2% to 68.8%. The three districts ended 2025 far above the statewide rate.

The school list showed the same concentration

At a separate 50-student school cutoff, which retained 96.9% of campus enrollment, nine of the 10 highest-rate schools belonged to Todd County, Eagle Butte or Dupree. Every school in that group reported a rate above 50%.

Eagle Butte Junior High led at 81.1%. He Dog Elementary, Todd County Elementary, Spring Creek Elementary and Rosebud Elementary followed, each above 70%. North Middle School was the only school in the top 10 outside the five reservation-community systems used in the district comparison.

The cutoffs make comparisons less sensitive to very small enrollments, but they do not change the central result: high reported absence was concentrated in a small group of communities, alongside real but incomplete improvement in Oglala Lakota County.

This analysis uses South Dakota Department of Education district and school chronic-absence records for 2022 through 2025. The department publishes the files and documentation on its annual Report Card page.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.

Dupree - EdTribune SD - South Dakota Education Data

Oglala Lakota Improved as Reservation-Community Districts Still Led South Dakota's Absence List

The highest district rates were clustered

Improvement from a high starting point

The school list showed the same concentration