The top reported proficiency rate is 11% in English language arts. The lowest is 8% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Dupree Jr. High - 04
Dupree Jr. High sits in the town of Dupree, the county seat of Ziebach County and the only incorporated community fully within the county. The town began as a railroad settlement along the Milwaukee Railroad and today functions mainly as an administrative and residential hub for the surrounding rural area rather than a commercial center. Publicly reported sources describe Dupree as a predominantly Native American community located on fee land just west of the Cheyenne River Reservation, a geographic and cultural context that shapes the school's identity. The town's footprint is compact, with the county courthouse, school facilities, and housing all in close proximity, though there is no commercial streetscape to speak of and no public transit. The community has experienced a slow population decline, and no major housing developments or growth initiatives surfaced in our research.
The school itself serves only seventh and eighth grades and is part of Dupree School District 64-2. Its enrollment is small even for a two-grade junior high, which means students learn in an intimate setting where peers are few and likely well known to one another and to staff. The large majority of students are American Indian or Alaska Native, with a small number of white students and one or two students from other racial or ethnic backgrounds. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, pointing to a student body facing concentrated economic need.
On state assessments, the picture is limited and sobering. The school participates in South Dakota's SBAC testing for English language arts and the SDSA 2.0 for science. Participation was full, which is itself a positive sign. In English language arts, a small fraction of tested students reached proficiency, and in science, an even smaller share did. Math results were suppressed for the current year, so we have no read on that subject. Average scale scores were not reported for any subject. No multi-year trend data was available, so there is no way to tell from the provided data whether these results represent a persistent pattern or a single year's outcome. A parent considering this school would want to ask directly what the school is doing to strengthen academic outcomes and how it supports students who are working below grade level.
Several categories of information that parents often rely on were absent from the data we received. There was no information on staffing ratios, teacher qualifications, or class sizes. No course access data was provided, which is typical for a junior high of this size where the curriculum is likely general and self-contained rather than specialized, but we cannot confirm that. Discipline data was not available. Attendance data was not available. Special population figures for students with individualized education programs and English learners were missing, so we cannot characterize those supports. No programs data was provided, so we have no information on extracurriculars, counseling, or any targeted academic interventions. The district brief returned little of lasting impact, and we found no strategic priorities or recent changes to report.
Because this school does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. That gap reflects the grade band, not a missing outcome.
What the data does make clear is that Dupree Jr. High is a very small, rural, predominantly Native American junior high where economic need is universal and where state proficiency results are low. The community context is tight-knit and rooted in the Cheyenne River region's cultural landscape. For a family already connected to Dupree, the school is the local option for those middle grades, and the question becomes less about comparison and more about what the school is doing with the students it has. We lacked the staffing, program, and trend data to answer that fully, and a parent would do well to go directly to the district for those conversations.
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