Summary:
Colby Middle is the only middle school in the Colby School District in Wisconsin, serving grades 6–8 to 204 students at 703 N 2nd St in Colby — roughly 68 students per grade level. Because the district has just one middle school, district figures are nearly identical to school figures, and the school operates with a 13.8:1 student-teacher ratio (about 15 teachers), $18,727 in per-student spending, and 59.8% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.
The standout strength is attendance: chronic absenteeism is 8.3%, less than half the state rate of 17.3% and slightly better than the district's 8.9%, and the dropout rate is 0.0% against a state rate of 1.1%. Academics tell a different story. Every tested subject and grade falls below the state average in both 2024‑25 and 2025‑26. In 2025‑26, proficiency ranged from 23.88% in 6th grade ELA (the lowest result in the data set) to 44.44% in 7th grade ELA, with math ranging from 27.54% to 38.89%. Averaged across all eight assessments, the school scored about 32.8% versus a state average of 55.5%, a gap of roughly 22.8 points. Rankings have held steady at 1 star for three straight years (550 of 643 in 2025‑26, 14th percentile), and the school outranks its own district overall.
Two patterns are worth watching. First, 7th grade is the clear bright spot, with the smallest gaps to the state of any tested area — roughly 11 points in ELA and 17 in math — produced by the same students and resources as the weaker 6th grade. Second, cohort tracking shows the 2024‑25 6th graders gained about 11.7 points in ELA and 11.6 in math by 7th grade, while the older cohort stayed essentially flat moving from 7th to 8th grade. Science and Social Studies (8th grade only) declined year over year, though that reflects different cohorts rather than the same students slipping. Funds and staffing are present; the open question is why results vary so much by grade level.
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