City: Rapid City, SD

Category: Education

Telephone: (605) 394-5147 (secondary)

Address: 300 6th St.

Description: Approximately 13,000 students attend classes in South Dakota’s second-largest school district, which includes 16 elementary schools (including one for children with disabilities), five middle schools, two high schools, three alternative academies that allow at-risk students to work at their own pace (in some cases, over the Internet) toward a diploma, and a technical school (see the Western Dakota Technical Institute listing below).The district is committed to giving its youths a solid academic foundation from the very beginning of their educational career. The school board lowered student-teacher ratios in the earliest grades as a means of increasing literacy from the start. Outstanding primary programs such as this one have garnered honors for the district. Rapid Valley Elementary School won a national Blue Ribbon Award in 1997 from the US Department of Education, one of 262 schools to be recognized for excellence. The school combines multiage classrooms, looping (where teachers remain longer with the same group of students), and traditional self-contained classes with progressive teaching techniques and a welcoming, “community of learners” atmosphere that makes children want to go to school—really! Some of its other progressive approaches to education include a money responsibility program, in which students can earn “Best Bills” play money they can use to pay fines for late homework or save to purchase items at the school store, and extended school days on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri, which leaves Wednesday afternoon free for staff development and networking.On the secondary level, Central and Stevens High Schools consistently excel in track, cross-country, and music (both band and orchestra). Stevens is usually noted for its wrestling, golf, and theater programs, which are consistently ranked as the best in the state, while Central takes top honors in volleyball and soccer and has a federally funded learning center for Native American students.Overall, the district prides itself on doing a good job teaching basic skills and on the success of its science students in local and national competition. Noteworthy, too, is an active, successful exchange program with educators from Rapid City’s Japanese sister city, Imaichi.