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Castlewood High School - 01

Castlewood · SD · Castlewood School District 28-1 · Public

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📋 At a glance

Programs & features
  • ✅ Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
Academic signals
  • 🎓 AP rigor: Bottom 25% of US high schools
  • 📝 SAT/ACT participation: Bottom 23% by test-taker volume
  • 🎓 4-yr grad rate: 90% (Bottom 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts ACGR, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

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How Castlewood High School - 01 compares for families

What families should know about Castlewood High School - 01.

  • LocallySD students outperform the US average on NAEP 8th-grade math (+7 points).
  • vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Estelline High School - 01, Watertown High School - 01, Great Plains Lutheran High School and 5 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.
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SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

Bottom 23% by test-taker volume

50th 90th
SAT/ACT test-takers
19
11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test
Test-taking intensity
17.0
takers per 100 students in grades 9-12
Compared against
18,426
US high schools reporting SAT/ACT participation

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

🎓 4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

Bottom 49% of US high schools by 4-yr grad rate

50th 90th
4-year graduation rate
90%
Range: 80–100%
4-year cohort size
17
Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years
Compared against
17,988
US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

👩‍🏫 Teacher workforce · federal CRDC

Teacher experience & reliability

% inexperienced teachers (1st-2nd yr)
11.1%
Typical mix. Watch the trend — high turnover can compound.
% chronic teacher absence (≥10 days/yr)
0.0%
Strong attendance culture among teachers.

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2017-18 — the most recent vintage that publishes per-school teacher quality fields; the 2020-21 sweep had them suppressed). "Inexperienced" = teachers in their first or second year. "Chronic absence" = teachers absent 10+ days/year.

🏛️ Federal Title I context

Lower-need school

Not Title I eligible (FRPL < 25%)

14.3%
FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).
0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

<25% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. Well below the Title I threshold; expect a higher-income student body on average.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

Chronic absenteeism

Share of students absent 15+ days
16.1%
Roughly average. The national post-COVID rate climbed to ~16% nationwide; this school is in the middle of the pack.
Students absent 15+ days
18
Federal definition: absent (excused or unexcused) for at least 15 of ~180 school days — about 10% of the school year.

Why this matters to enrollment: Chronic absence is the strongest early indicator of dropout, transfer-out, and family disengagement. A school's absenteeism trend forecasts its enrollment trend 1-3 years out. For school leaders: an Enrollment Trend Audit traces this dynamic forward →

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020–2021. Rate = students chronically absent ÷ 2024 total enrollment.

Counselor capacity

Student : Counselor
112:1
Below the ASCA 250:1 recommendation — strong capacity for college planning, course selection, and student supports.
Counselor FTE
1.0
Full-time-equivalent school counselors on staff.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Data Collection 2020-2021. Counselor ratio = the school's most recent total enrollment ÷ counselor FTE. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a 250:1 maximum; the US national median across schools with on-staff counselors is roughly 430:1.

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment + grade 12, NCES Common Core of Data (2021–2024).

If the recent trend holds…

At its recent rate of +6.8%/year, projecting from 2024's 112 students:

2025
120
2027
136
2029
155

An extrapolation of the recent trajectory, not a forecast of the school's plans; ignores one-off shocks.

Nearby high schools — the local competition

The closest high schools families here also consider, and where their enrollment is heading.

SchoolTypeMilesHS enrollmentTrend
Estelline High School - 01
Estelline
Public 12.2 83 +5.1%
Watertown High School - 01
Watertown
Public 12.7 1,222 -2.9%
Great Plains Lutheran High School
Watertown
Private 13.7 133 +11.8%
Hamlin High School - 01
Hayti
Public 13.8 226 +0.4%
Deuel High School - 01
Clear Lake
Public 17.0 176 +10.0%
Waverly-South Shore High School - 01
Waverly
Public 19.2 86 +7.5%
Henry High School - 01
Henry
Public 23.8 54 -12.9%
Arlington High School - 01
Arlington
Public 25.7 76 -20.0%

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