Best Public Schools in Shawano, WI

Shawano, Wisconsin is served by five schools in the Shawano School District: three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school, enrolling 2,079 students combined. Shawano High is the largest with 702 students in grades 9–12, followed by Hillcrest Primary School (PK–2, 472), Shawano Community Middle (6–8, 436), Brener Elementary (3–5, 389), and the small LEADS Primary Charter School (PK–2, 80). All five share the same district rating: ranked 371 of 432, 14th percentile, 1 star — notably lower than the current ranks of the individual schools.

Shawano Community Middle is the academic bright spot, with the best current rank among ranked Shawano schools at 39th percentile and 2 stars in 2025–2026, up from 29th percentile and 1 star in 2023–2024. All three tested math grades beat the state, as did 8th-grade science, though ELA and social studies remain below state. Shawano High graduates 94.7% of students, above the state's 92.0%, but its 2025–2026 scores fell below state in social studies (29.22% vs 48.25%), ELA (41.52% vs 48.47%), math (33.33% vs 42.93%), and science (28.65% vs 43.20%), and its rank dropped to 27th percentile and 1 star. LEADS Primary Charter School stands out for 3.3% chronic absenteeism — far below the district's 22.4% and the state's 17.3% — with the lowest free/reduced lunch share (33.75%) and highest spending ($17,836), though its reported 80:1 student-teacher ratio is an extreme outlier and it has no test scores.

Attendance is a district-wide challenge: Hillcrest Primary School (28.6%), Brener Elementary (23.8%), the middle school (21.8%), and the high school (20.2%) all exceed the state's 17.3%. Brener Elementary shows pockets of strength — 4th-grade social studies at 70.91% and 4th-grade math at 56.76%, both above state — but ELA in grades 3–5 is consistently below state. Hillcrest Primary School carries the highest free/reduced lunch share (60.38%) and highest absenteeism, while having the lowest student-teacher ratio (11.8). Spending does not track neatly with outcomes: the high school spends the least ($14,946) yet has the strongest graduation rate.