Summary:
Hillsboro School District in Wisconsin serves two schools covering PK through grade 12: Hillsboro High, a combined middle and high school with 252 students in grades 6–12, and Hillsboro Elementary with 220 students in grades PK–5, for a total enrollment of 472. The district as a whole is rated 1 star and ranks 304 of 432 districts (30th percentile), and both schools carry that same district rank.
The two schools tell very different stories. Hillsboro Elementary has improved sharply, moving from 1 star and the 27th percentile in 2023–2024 to 3 stars and the 57th percentile in 2025–2026, a 30-point percentile gain. In 2025–2026 it scored above the state in 3rd grade ELA (78.26 vs. 52.08), 3rd grade math (73.91 vs. 54.75), 4th grade science (76.47 vs. 53.46) and 4th grade social studies (70.59 vs. 65.51). Its chronic absenteeism is just 2.0%, compared with 5.2% district-wide and 17.3% statewide. Hillsboro High is more uneven: it has strong completion measures — a 92.5% graduation rate and 0.4% dropout rate — and 7.6% chronic absenteeism, but its rank slipped from 4 stars and the 70th percentile in 2024–2025 to 2 stars and the 45th percentile in 2025–2026.
Middle-school math is the clearest weakness, with 2025–2026 proficiency of 27.27% in 6th grade, 24.14% in 7th and 29.41% in 8th, against state rates near 54%. Bright spots include 8th grade social studies (70.59 vs. 64.63) and ACT math (50.0 vs. 42.93). Elementary spends $18,875 per student with an 11.5 student-teacher ratio and a 44.55% free/reduced lunch rate, while the high school spends $18,260 with a 13.1 ratio and 37.3% free/reduced lunch — so the elementary school has higher poverty indicators yet generally stronger proficiency, a contrast rather than a proven cause. Because grade-level and ACT percentages come from small groups, year-to-year swings should be read cautiously.
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