Elmwood School District

Elmwood School District is a small Wisconsin district serving roughly 330 students across four schools: Elmwood Elementary (PK–4, 130 students), Elmwood Middle (5–8, 92 students), Elmwood High (9–12, 90 students), and Western Wisconsin Virtual Charter School (WWVC) (PK–12, 18 students). The district is ranked 160th of 432 Wisconsin districts, placing it at the 63rd percentile with 3 stars.

Elmwood Middle is the academic standout, ranking 77th of 643 schools (88th percentile, 4 stars) in 2025–26 after two 5-star years. Its 8th graders reached 90% proficiency in social studies versus a state rate of 64.63%, and 85% in science versus 51.86%; 7th grade math and ELA were both 79.17% versus state rates of 55.67% and 55.33%. It has the lowest reported free/reduced-lunch rate (29.35%) and the lowest per-student spending among the brick-and-mortar schools ($14,135), with chronic absenteeism of 5.4%. Elmwood High posts a 100% graduation rate, 0.0% dropout, and ACT math and science results well above state (57.14% and 61.9%), though its ACT ELA of 47.62% is slightly below the state's 48.47% and its chronic absenteeism of 10.3% is above the district's 6.2% but far below the state's 17.3%. Elmwood Elementary rebounded from the 61st to the 80th percentile, with scores above state in every listed subject and the district's lowest absenteeism at 3.7%.

WWVC is a major outlier that should be read cautiously: with 18 students, a virtual alternative model, no rank history, a 13.3% dropout rate, an 80% graduation rate, and ACT math and science at 0% as reported, its figures are not directly comparable to brick-and-mortar schools. Across the district, absenteeism is low compared with the state, and spending does not map neatly to outcomes. With such small enrollments, year-to-year changes are best treated as signals to investigate rather than firm trends.