Cochrane-Fountain City School District

Cochrane-Fountain City School District is a small district in western Wisconsin serving the Mississippi River communities of Cochrane and Fountain City, with two schools — Cochrane-Fountain City Elementary (PK–6) and Cochrane-Fountain City High (grades 7–12) — enrolling about 515 students combined. The district overall is rated 337th of 432 Wisconsin districts, a 1-star rating, while both schools currently carry 2 stars in 2025–2026.

The two schools show different strengths. Cochrane-Fountain City Elementary has exceptionally low chronic absenteeism at 6.3%, compared with 9.0% district-wide and 17.3% statewide. Its 2025–2026 test results beat the state in ELA grade 3 (60.00% vs 52.08%), ELA grade 6 (71.88% vs 54.95%), math grade 3 (71.43% vs 54.75%), math grade 6 (65.63% vs 53.60%) and science grade 4 (58.14% vs 53.46%). Cochrane-Fountain City High graduates 95.4% of students, above the district's 93.3% and the state's 92.0%, with a 0.0% dropout rate, and its grade 10 social studies result of 69.23% is roughly 21 points above the state's 48.25%.

Both schools have slid in state rankings: the elementary from the 81st percentile in 2023–2024 to the 49th in 2025–2026, and the high school from the 68th to the 39th. Math is the clearest weakness, especially at the high school, where grade 7 math (33.33% vs 55.67%), grade 8 math (34.21% vs 53.67%) and ACT math (16.67% vs 42.93%) trail the state by wide margins. Elementary math is uneven, with grades 3 and 6 well above state while grades 4 and 5 are well below. The high school spends $15,211 per student versus $14,475 at the elementary, with student-teacher ratios of 13.1 and 11.6. Because cohorts are small, single-year percentages can swing sharply, but the pattern of declining rankings and low high school math proficiency is consistent.