The top reported proficiency rate is 29% in English language arts. The lowest is 20% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Whittier Middle School - 08
Whittier Middle School sits on East 6th Street in Sioux Falls, serving sixth through eighth graders as one of seven middle schools in the Sioux Falls School District 49-5. It is a traditional public school, not a charter or magnet, and its enrollment places it among the larger middle schools in the district. The school draws from a city that has grown rapidly over recent decades, transforming from an industrial base into a regional center for health care, finance, and retail, with Sanford Health and Avera Health as dominant employers and Wells Fargo and Citigroup maintaining major operations thanks to South Dakota's favorable tax structure.
The student body at Whittier reflects the demographic diversity of its attendance area in ways that set it apart from many schools in the state. Hispanic students form the largest single group, followed closely by Black students, with White students as the next largest cohort. American Indian and Alaska Native students and students of two or more races each make up a meaningful share, and a smaller Asian population rounds out the enrollment. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating considerable economic need in the surrounding neighborhoods. The school does not report English learner or special education figures in the data we received, so a parent wanting to understand supports for those populations would need to ask the school directly.
On state assessments, Whittier's proficiency rates in math and English language arts sit below what most South Dakota schools report. In math, fewer than one in five tested students reached proficient or above on the SBAC assessment. English language arts showed somewhat stronger results, with closer to three in ten students proficient. Science, measured by the South Dakota Science Assessment and tested only at eighth grade, fell between those two, with roughly a quarter of tested students reaching proficiency. Participation was near-universal across all three subjects, which means these results reflect nearly the entire student body rather than a self-selected subset. The data does not include prior-year results or trend information, so there is no way to tell from the available figures whether proficiency is improving, declining, or holding steady. A parent evaluating this school would want to ask what growth trajectories look like for individual students and what interventions the school has in place for those working below grade level.
Because Whittier serves only middle grades, it has no graduation rate, and the state does not test below third grade, so those gaps reflect the grade band rather than missing reporting. Data on course access, staffing ratios, attendance, and discipline was not available in the materials we reviewed. Without those pieces, a parent cannot fully assess the learning environment from this profile alone.
The housing market around the school's zip code is more affordable than the state and national benchmarks. Typical home values sit below the South Dakota median and well below the national figure, and rents are moderate relative to income, with rent consuming a smaller share of household earnings than a mortgage would at current interest rates. This makes the area relatively accessible for families, though rising mortgage rates and modest year-over-year home value growth suggest the market is tightening gradually.
Sioux Falls itself is a city where daily life outside downtown runs largely on cars, though a bus network with over a dozen lines operates six days a week and a paved loop trail circles the city for biking and walking. Falls Park, downtown sculpture walks, and the Washington Pavilion cultural center provide civic and recreational anchors. The school district has been growing steadily, recently opening Susan B. Anthony Elementary to help absorb new enrollment, and capacity decisions continue to shape boundary assignments across the city. For a family considering Whittier, the tradeoff is clear: an economically diverse, multicultural peer environment in an affordable part of a growing city, paired with state test results that indicate real academic challenges and a profile that leaves several important operational details unreported.
See more original research from School Decision →