Summary:
Highland School District in southwestern Wisconsin contains just one elementary school, Highland Community Elementary, which serves students in grades PK–5 in the town of Highland and enrolls 124 students, so any comparison in this area means looking at a single school's own numbers and trends over time.
The school's clearest strength is attendance: chronic absenteeism was 3.1% in 2024–2025, far below the district's 5.5% and the state's 17.3%, a difference of more than 14 percentage points against Wisconsin as a whole. Early grades also perform well. Third grade math was 66.67% proficient in both 2024–2025 and 2025–2026, and third grade ELA reached 60%, both above the state. Fourth grade social studies climbed to 75% proficient, 9.49 points above the state, and fourth grade math jumped from 33.33% to 50%. On the strength of these gains, the school rose to 625 of 1,039 schools, or the 40th percentile, with 2 stars, up from 28th percentile and 1 star the year before. Across the eight reported tests, the school's simple average improved 8.41 points in one year, while the state improved 0.79 points.
Fifth grade remains the biggest academic concern: math was 27.78% proficient against the state's 51.81%, and ELA was 38.89% against the state's 53.63%. Overall, only 3 of 8 reported tests in 2025–2026 were above state, and the school's average of 52.29% still trails the state's 54.75%. The district itself ranks 339 of 432, the 22nd percentile with 1 star. Parents should also note the school's small size — with 124 students, a few children can move a grade-level percentage by several points. The school spends $18,213 per student with a student-teacher ratio of 11.1 and 41.13% free/reduced lunch eligibility.
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