The top reported proficiency rate is 62% in English language arts. The lowest is 39% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Rutland Jr. High - 03
Rutland Jr. High - 03 was a small middle school in Rutland, South Dakota, serving the community as part of the Rutland School District 39-4. The school is now closed, and that fact shapes everything about what follows. The closure was not an isolated event. In 2023, the Rutland School District 39-4 consolidated with the neighboring Oldham-Ramona School District 39-5 to form the Oldham-Ramona-Rutland School District 39-6, a reorganization that restructured governance, school sites, and district boundaries across Lake, Kingsbury, Miner, and Moody counties. The Rutland Jr. High building at 102 School St likely ceased operations as part of that consolidation, though the data does not specify the exact circumstances of its closure.
The most recent state assessment results available are from the 2022-23 school year, which appears to be the final year before the consolidation took effect. Students took the SBAC in math and English language arts and the SDSA 2.0 in science. Participation was full across every grade and subject.
In English language arts, the school showed a clear upward trajectory across the middle grades. Sixth-grade proficiency was moderate, seventh grade dipped, and eighth grade reached a notably strong level, with a substantial majority of tested eighth graders demonstrating proficiency. This is a pattern worth noting: the school's oldest students were performing best in reading and writing, suggesting that the ELA program was building effectively across the three years students spent there.
Math results followed a similar but more muted arc. Sixth and seventh grade proficiency was low, with roughly a third or fewer students meeting the proficiency bar. Eighth grade improved substantially, with about half of tested students reaching proficiency. The gap between ELA and math performance was consistent across all three grades, with ELA outpacing math each time. Science, tested only in eighth grade, landed in between, with a smaller share of students proficient than in either eighth-grade ELA or math.
The tested groups were very small, as one would expect in a rural South Dakota town. With so few students in each grade, a single student's performance can shift the proficiency rate noticeably. This does not invalidate the results, but it does mean the numbers reflect a handful of children rather than a broad statistical pattern. Parents reading these results should keep that scale in mind.
The school served only middle grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, no high school course access data, and no college or career readiness information. These metrics do not apply to this grade band. Enrollment counts, demographic breakdowns, free and reduced-price lunch rates, special population figures, and staffing data were all missing from the available records, so there is no way to characterize the student body's composition or the school's resource levels from what was provided. Locale and community context were also absent, so the housing market, town character, and economic setting around the school cannot be described here.
Program offerings, extracurricular activities, and civil rights data were not available in the payload, so there is nothing to report on advanced coursework, clubs, athletics, or discipline patterns.
What is publicly reported about the district's recent history is relevant for any family trying to understand this school's context. The 2023 consolidation created a new district spanning four counties, which would have meant longer bus rides and combined student bodies for families accustomed to a small local school. Then, in 2025, a referendum on whether to dissolve the new Oldham-Ramona-Rutland district entirely was defeated by a razor-thin margin after a recount. The vote highlighted deep divisions among residents about the future of schooling in these rural communities. The district survived the vote, but the near-split signals ongoing uncertainty about whether the current arrangement will hold.
For a family looking at this area today, Rutland Jr. High - 03 no longer exists as an option. The assessment results from its final year paint a picture of a very small rural middle school where ELA instruction was producing solid gains by eighth grade, math was a softer area, and science sat in between. Anyone interested in what now serves these students should look into the Oldham-Ramona-Rutland School District 39-6 and its current school sites, since that is the entity that replaced what is described here.
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