Summary:
Shell Lake, Wisconsin has one high school, Shell Lake Junior/Senior High, serving grades 7–12 with 300 students in the Shell Lake School District, located in a small city in northwestern Wisconsin.
Shell Lake Junior/Senior High is the only high school in the area, so it stands out by default. Its strengths include a 97.9% graduation rate and a 0.6% dropout rate, both better than Wisconsin’s 92.0% and 1.1%. Chronic absenteeism is 12.9%, lower than the state’s 17.3% but higher than the district’s 10.6%. In 2025–2026, the school was above state proficiency in 9 of 10 test areas. Eighth-grade results are especially strong: ELA 76.09%, math 73.91%, social studies 69.57%, and science 54.35%, all above state. Tenth-grade ACT performance is also solid, with ELA at 59.18% versus 48.47% statewide and science at 53.06% versus 43.2%. The main weakness is 10th-grade Forward social studies, where the school scored 42.22%, below the state’s 48.25% and down from 64.15% the previous year. Rank history shows fluctuation but consistent above-average standing: the school was at the 55th percentile in 2023–2024, 81st in 2024–2025, and 67th in 2025–2026. The district is rated 4 stars and 80th percentile, while the school’s 2025–2026 rank is 3 stars and 67th percentile.
Context matters: the school has a 40.67% free/reduced lunch rate, per-student spending of $16,862, and a student-teacher ratio of 13.4. These strong outcomes alongside these factors suggest solid results. Because the school is small, a change of a few students can swing grade-level percentages, so year-to-year shifts should be interpreted cautiously. Overall, Shell Lake Junior/Senior High appears to be a solidly above-average Wisconsin high school with strong completion, ACT, and most Forward Exam results, with 10th-grade social studies as its clearest academic concern.
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