Summary:
Middle schools in the Burlington Area School District consist of one school: Karcher Middle School, which serves grades 5–8 and enrolls 779 students at 300 Wainwright Avenue in Burlington, Wisconsin. Because it is the district's only middle school, there is no in-district comparison to draw; the meaningful benchmarks are district and Wisconsin state averages. Those benchmarks matter here, since the district overall is rated 2 stars at the 44th percentile (242 of 432), while Karcher has earned 4 stars in each of the last three reported years.
Statewide, Karcher ranked 114 of 643 schools in 2025–2026 at the 82nd percentile, following 107 of 628 (83rd percentile) and 102 of 641 (84th percentile) — a modest relative slip, but still among the top tier of Wisconsin middle schools. In 2025–2026, its Forward Exam proficiency beat the state average in all 10 subject and grade combinations. The largest margins were 8th grade English language arts at 77.01% proficient versus 54.38% statewide (+22.63 points), 8th grade social studies at 81.08% versus 64.63% (+16.45 points), and 8th grade math at 69.89% versus 53.67% (+16.22 points). Eighth grade is the strongest grade band overall.
Fifth grade showed the biggest year-over-year gains: ELA rose from 49.17 to 62.21 and math from 50.28 to 65.12, moving both from below state to above state. The main watch item is 8th grade science, which fell from 68.29 to 59.46 — yet still finished 7.60 points above the state average. Engagement indicators are favorable, with chronic absenteeism at 3.2% (district 3.6%, state 17.3%) and a reported dropout rate of 0.0%. For context, Karcher has 34.66% free/reduced lunch, a 16.4:1 student-teacher ratio, and $13,504 per-student spending.
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