Summary:
The Beaver Dam Unified School District serves roughly 2,790 students in six schools — four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school — covering grades PK/K through 12 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The district is ranked 180th of 432 in the state, placing it in the 58th percentile with 3 stars.
Achievement is uneven across the district. Prairie View Elementary is the clear standout, ranking in the 91st percentile with 5 stars and posting the lowest chronic absenteeism at 4.8%. Washington Elementary is close behind at the 84th percentile with 4 stars and a 5.4% absenteeism rate, and it achieves this despite the district's highest student-teacher ratio (16.4) and a 52.69% free/reduced lunch rate — showing those factors alone don't prevent strong results. Jefferson Elementary (55th percentile, 3 stars) and Lincoln Elementary (57th percentile, 3 stars) sit in the middle. All four elementaries beat the state in 4th-grade social studies, though science is uneven, from 65.52% at Prairie View to 40.00% at Lincoln.
The secondary schools trail. Beaver Dam Middle ranks in the 37th percentile with 2 stars; its math proficiency beats the state in all three grades, but 8th-grade science (32.57% vs 51.86%) and social studies (46.86% vs 64.63%) lag. Beaver Dam High ranks in the 46th percentile with 2 stars, and while its 96.4% graduation rate and 1.0% dropout rate are strong, ACT math (33.03% vs 42.93%) and ELA (46.33% vs 48.47%) fall below state, and chronic absenteeism is the district's highest at 20.3%. Absenteeism tracks closely with outcomes districtwide, and most schools have improved their rank since 2023-24.
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