When determining the answer to the question about where South Dakota stands as far as school systems go, there is a lot to unpack.

When I see this kind of statistics I think to myself, that one of the reasons people always mention when talking about why they moved or live in Sioux Falls, is the school system.

That is not to say that all South Dakota school systems are alike. We all know that is not the case.

In this study, South Dakota came in right smack dab in the middle at 26. (Because they include the District of Columbia).

There were two major categories in this study that determined where the state ranked school-system-wise and those were: Quality and Safety.

The subcategories are too numerous to mention here, but some of the major situations they surveyed were quite surprising.

In the Quality area they examined:

  • The number of "Blue Ribbon" schools per capita

The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program recognizes public and private elementary, middle, and high schools based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups.- WalletHub

  • High school graduation rates
  • Math test scores
  • Reading test scores
  • Pupil to teacher ratios
  • ACT & SAT results

The Safety items they surveyed  took into consideration living in a Covid world:

  • Existence of digital learing plans and out of school access to instructional materials and state guidance on available tecnologies

The study also received surprising results in this category regarding personal safety:

  • Number of students not attending school due to personal safety issues
  • Number of threatened and injured students in a school
  • Number of parents who consider their kids' school safe

Sadly, drugs and gun violence also had a strong presence in this survey.

To see this compete study go to WalletHub's States with the Best & Worst School Systems.

Source: WalletHub

Sioux Falls Top Ten Restaurants

Sioux Falls has no shortage of amazing restaurants. There's a little something for everything here, but the question is, which are the best?

Well, according to Trip Advisor, these are the top ten eateries in the city of Sioux Falls. Is your favorite spot on the list? Take a look.

More From Hot 104.7 - KKLS-FM