Best Middle Schools in Sheboygan, WI

Five middle schools serve the city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin — Horace Mann Middle, Urban Middle, Farnsworth Middle, Etude Middle, and George D Warriner Middle — all part of the Sheboygan Area School District, all serving grades 6–8, and together enrolling 1,748 students. The district ranks 343rd of 432 Wisconsin districts (21st percentile, 1 star), and every school here falls between the 20th and 33rd percentile statewide, so the useful comparison is which schools do best within a common bottom-quartile setting.

Etude is the academic standout: the highest ELA (~47.2%) and math (~45.7%) averages in the city, a 6th-grade ELA of 64.29% that tops the state, 2-star ratings three years running, and the lowest per-student spending ($13,736) — but also the highest chronic absenteeism (40.3%) and dropout rate (1.9%), so its classroom results and its engagement numbers point in opposite directions. Farnsworth is the consistent laggard: lowest percentile each of the last three years, 1 star every year, the lowest proficiency averages, and the highest free/reduced lunch rate (71.78%). Horace Mann is the largest (617 students) and has the best attendance of the three big schools (18.3% chronic absenteeism) and a 7th-grade math result at the state level, yet it slipped from 2 stars to 1. Urban improved sharply in 8th-grade social studies (47.22% to 63.44%, essentially at the state mark) but has the weakest 6th-grade math (35.0%). George D Warriner, with just 43 students, is highly volatile — it jumped from the 14th to the 30th percentile and reports 0.0% absenteeism and dropout — so read its figures as directional.

Two patterns cut across all five schools. First, math proficiency falls between 7th and 8th grade everywhere, from −5.8 points at Farnsworth to −21.1 at Horace Mann, even though the 6th-to-7th transition is flat or positive — making 8th-grade math the clearest shared weakness. Second, spending does not track with outcomes: the lowest-spending school posts the best results, while higher-spending Farnsworth posts the lowest. Social studies is the relative bright spot (a 57.2% city average, about 7 points below state), while science averages 42.8% and is the weakest subject overall.