Summary:
The city of Merrill, Wisconsin is home to two high schools, both part of the Merrill Area School District: Merrill High, a comprehensive school serving grades 9–12 with 756 students, and Merrill Adult Diploma Academy, a small alternative/adult diploma program serving grades 11–12 with just 31 students. The district as a whole is ranked 213 out of 432 in Wisconsin, placing it at the 51st percentile with 3 stars.
Merrill High shows clear strengths in completion outcomes and improvement. Its graduation rate of 95.4% is above the district's 90.6% and the state's 92.0%, and its dropout rate of 0.5% is well below both the district's 0.9% and the state's 1.1%. Its rank history has climbed steadily, from 1 star and 23rd percentile in 2023–2024 to 2 stars and 49th percentile in 2024–2025 to 3 stars and 52nd percentile in 2025–2026. Science is a relative bright spot at 48.7% proficient, above district and state, while math, English language arts, and social studies results are mixed and shifted noticeably from year to year. Chronic absenteeism is the main concern at 22.6%, above both the district's 14.6% and the state's 17.3%.
Merrill Adult Diploma Academy serves a much smaller, distinct population and posts very different results: a 43.4% graduation rate, a 9.6% dropout rate, and 30.0% chronic absenteeism, all far worse than district and state figures. It spends $10,752 per student with a student-teacher ratio of 31, versus $16,592 and 16.3 at Merrill High, and no test score or rank history is available for it. With only 31 students, small changes can swing its rates substantially, so its numbers should be read with caution. Notably, absenteeism is higher at both high schools than district-wide, suggesting it is concentrated at this level.
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