Showing South Dakota college and university sites. All education sites
Public colleges and universities in South Dakota are ranked and averaged together; private nonprofit institutions are listed below with their own average.
F 36
Average readability score of 11 fully scanned South Dakota public college sites
29th
of 48 states and territories, ranked by average readability score
11 of 13
South dakota public college sites fully scanned. We couldn't fully scan 2, so they're listed without grades
F 56
Average readability score of all 2,687 fully scanned education sites
How South Dakota readability scores are distributed
Smoothed distribution of the 11 fully scanned South Dakota public college sites, score 0 to 100. Height shows how many sites score near each value.
Distribution of 11 scores. The data table lists counts by score range.
- South Dakota average
- All education average
View the data table
| Score range | Sites |
|---|---|
| 0 to 9 | 7 |
| 10 to 19 | 0 |
| 20 to 29 | 0 |
| 30 to 39 | 0 |
| 40 to 49 | 0 |
| 50 to 59 | 0 |
| 60 to 69 | 0 |
| 70 to 79 | 0 |
| 80 to 89 | 0 |
| 90 to 100 | 4 |
South Dakota by readability grade, compared with all education sites
Share of fully scanned sites in each grade band. South Dakota: 11 sites. All education: 2687 sites.
- A (90 to 100)
- B to C (70 to 89)
- D to F (below 70)
View the data table
| Group | A (90 to 100) | B to C (70 to 89) | D to F (below 70) |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | 36% (4) | 0% (0) | 64% (7) |
| All education sites | 53% (1,425) | 0% (0) | 41% (1,110) |
Top 3 South Dakota public college sites by readability score
#1 in South Dakota · U.S. education rank 1
Dakota State University
A 100 readability
- Accessibility A
- Botability A
- Security A
- Usability F
- Readability A
#1 in South Dakota · U.S. education rank 1
Northern State University
A 100 readability
- Accessibility A
- Botability A
- Security A
- Usability F
- Readability A
What each check means
- Reading level. Page text reads at or below a 7th grade level so most users can understand it. Users struggle to understand your content.
Every education site with one problem
- Education websites that are hard to read: 1,110 of 2,535 fully scanned education sites (44%), with every site listed.
South Dakota public 4-year institutions by readability score
9 sites, 7 fully scanned, average readability score 57 (F). Part of the headline average.
| Rank | Site | Checks passed | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
sdsmt.edu
U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
dsu.edu
Dakota State University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
northern.edu
Northern State University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
usd.edu
University of South Dakota U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 2 |
bhsu.edu
Black Hills State University U.S. rank 12 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 2 |
sintegleska.edu
Sinte Gleska University U.S. rank 68 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 2 |
sdstate.edu
South Dakota State University U.S. rank 56 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
|
olc.edu
Oglala Lakota College |
Not fully scanned, so not graded. We couldn't scan your site because it showed our bot a captcha or browser check instead of the page. Status 996 | - | |
|
swcollege.edu
Sisseton Wahpeton College |
Not fully scanned, so not graded. We couldn't fully scan your site because it responded without any page content. Status 995 | - |
South Dakota public 2-year institutions by readability score
4 sites, 4 fully scanned. Part of the headline average.
| Rank | Site | Checks passed | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
lakeareatech.edu
Lake Area Technical College U.S. rank 88 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 1 |
mitchelltech.edu
Mitchell Technical College U.S. rank 178 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 1 |
southeasttech.edu
Southeast Technical College U.S. rank 214 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
| 1 |
wdt.edu
Western Dakota Technical College U.S. rank 210 |
0 of 1 checks pass | F |
South Dakota private nonprofit institutions by readability score
4 sites, 4 fully scanned. Ranked among themselves. Not part of the public average above.
| Rank | Site | Checks passed | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
augie.edu
Augustana University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
ilt.edu
Institute of Lutheran Theology U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
kairos.edu
Kairos University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
| 1 |
mountmarty.edu
Mount Marty University U.S. rank 1 |
1 of 1 checks pass | A |
About readability
Write content at a reading level most users can understand.
Why it's important
Plain language helps people understand services and procedures the first time, reducing calls, errors and office visits.
Risks
- Users cannot understand your content.
Guidance
What we use to grade readability:
- 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA)
- Automated Readability Index (ARI)
- Flesch–Kincaid readability tests
- U.S. Federal Website Standards
- Plain Writing Act of 2010
Standards
Grades/scores
ScanGov
About this ranking
About this data
ScanGov scans the homepage of each college and university site on our higher education list. Scores come from the checks in the ScanGov standards. Sites were scanned between 10/25/2026 and 11/8/2026. Each site's report shows its own scan date. A site counts as fully scanned when its homepage loaded and sent us its page content. Averages, grade shares, failure rates, and ranks use fully scanned sites only. We could not fully scan 2 sites. They did not respond, blocked the scanner, or sent no page content. They appear in the table without grades, with their scan status, and are left out of every figure. Grades follow the ScanGov grade scale. Rank follows the ScanGov ranking method. The full dataset, with every county's raw results, is in the ScanGov data repository.