Summary:
Schools in Oconto, Wisconsin include four schools serving pre-kindergarten through 12th grade: Oconto Elementary (PK–4, 340 students), Oconto Middle (5–8, 270 students), Oconto High (9–12, 299 students), and Northeast Wisconsin Learning Academy (grades 5–12, 13 students). All four belong to the Oconto Unified School District, which enrolls 922 students and is rated 1 star overall, ranking 322 of 432 districts in Wisconsin (25th percentile). That district rating applies to every school, but it hides large differences between them.
Oconto High is the strongest traditional school, with a 100.0% graduation rate, a 0.3% dropout rate, and a 2025–26 rank of 220 of 533 (59th percentile, 3 stars), up sharply from 37th percentile the year before. Its 10th-grade Social Studies proficiency of 58.43% beats the state's 48.25%, though ACT Math and Science remain below state. Oconto Middle (42nd percentile, 2 stars) shines in 7th-grade Math at 64.06% proficient versus the state's 55.67%, with 8th-grade Math also above state, while other grades lag. Oconto Elementary has the best attendance in the group at 11.4% chronic absenteeism, but every reported 2025–26 test result fell below state, and its rank dropped to 842 of 1039 (19th percentile, 1 star). Northeast Wisconsin Learning Academy faces the steepest challenges: 72.7% chronic absenteeism, a 66.6% graduation rate, an 8.3% dropout rate, and the highest free/reduced lunch rate at 76.92%, despite the smallest enrollment.
A few patterns stand out for families comparing these schools. The three traditional schools all keep chronic absenteeism below Wisconsin's 17.3% rate, while the Academy is far above it. Rank trends are mixed: the Elementary has slipped, the Middle improved slightly, and the High rebounded. The Academy has the highest need and lowest per-student spending ($11,505), though with only 13 students this does not prove cause and effect. It also reports no test-score or rank data, so its academic performance should be treated as unknown rather than poor.
Thank you for your feedback!