Oglala Lakota County
Oglala Lakota Improved as Reservation-Community Districts Still Led South Dakota's Absence List
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 Dak...
Attendance Improved for Native Students and Students Identified as Homeless; South Dakota's Gaps Remain Wide
Attendance improved for two South Dakota student groups carrying the state's highest chronic-absence rates. The Native American rate fell 3.5 percentage points from 2022 to 2025, while the rate for st...
A High School That Didn't Exist Built Pine Ridge's 49% Enrollment Surge
In a state where most districts are shrinking, one school district on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation grew by 564 students between 2007 and 2025, a 49.4% increase. The Oglala Lakota County School Di...
14,000 Native Students, 17 Years of Standing Still
South Dakota enrolled 14,477 Native American students in 2008. In 2025, the number was 14,283. That is 194 fewer students over 17 years, a decline of 1.3%.
South Dakota Schools Lost 13 Points of White Share in 17 Years
In the 2007-08 school year, roughly 82 of every 100 students in South Dakota's public schools were white. By 2024-25, that figure had fallen to 69. The 13.2 percentage-point drop did not happen becaus...
South Dakota's Hidden Pre-K System Serves 3,284 Children With Zero State Dollars
In 2006, South Dakota reported 1,280 pre-kindergarten students across 110 school districts. By 2025, that number had climbed to 3,284, a 156.6% increase that makes PK one of the fastest-growing segmen...