Best Public Schools in Auburndale, WI

Auburndale, Wisconsin is home to two public schools serving roughly 821 students: Auburndale Elementary, which covers pre-kindergarten through 5th grade, and Auburndale High, which serves grades 6 through 12 in a single building. Both belong to the Auburndale School District, which ranks 186th of 432 Wisconsin districts (57th percentile, 3 stars). Because the high school includes the middle grades, its overall profile blends two very different levels of performance.

Auburndale Elementary is the academic standout, earning 4 stars in each of the last three years and reaching 206th of 1,039 schools (80th percentile) in 2025–2026. It scored above the state in 7 of 8 Forward Exam areas, including 4th-grade social studies at 91.67% (state 65.51%) and 4th-grade science at 80.00% (state 53.46%). The one weak spot was 5th-grade ELA at 49.18% versus the state's 53.63%. Chronic absenteeism is very low at 6.9%, compared with 7.8% district-wide and 17.3% statewide.

Auburndale High presents a contrast: 1 star for three straight years and a rank of 399th of 533 (25th percentile), yet a 98.1% graduation rate and 0.0% dropout rate, both better than the state. Absenteeism is 8.8%, still about half the state rate. Its middle grades are often strong — 8th-grade science and social studies each hit 72.88% — but 10th-grade social studies (29.79% vs. 48.25%) and ACT results lag well behind the state, which likely explains the weak overall rank. Notably, the high school spends more per student ($16,229 vs. $13,674), has a smaller student-teacher ratio (12.6 vs. 14.2), and has a lower free/reduced lunch rate (20.5% vs. 27.08%) than the elementary school, even though the elementary school posts the stronger academic results.