Manawa School District

Manawa School District in Wisconsin serves 528 students across three schools — Manawa Elementary (PK–5, 221 students), Manawa Middle (6–8, 112 students), and Little Wolf High (9–12, 195 students) — and has no alternative school. The district overall is rated 1 star, ranked 359th of 432 Wisconsin districts, at the 17th percentile.

Little Wolf High has the strongest current rank of the three, 300th of 533 (44th percentile, 2 stars), plus the clearest academic bright spot: 10th grade ACT ELA proficiency of 55.07%, above the state's 48.47% and up sharply from 26.83% in 2024–25. It reports a 0.0% dropout rate, though its 89.5% graduation rate is below the state's 92.0%. Manawa Middle also earns 2 stars (443rd of 643, 31st percentile) and posts the district's highest single assessment, 7th grade math at 73.91% — 18.24 points above the state's 55.67% — with the lowest per-student spending ($13,054) and lowest student-teacher ratio (12.0). Manawa Elementary is the only 1-star school (783rd of 1,039, 25th percentile) and stands out instead for chronic absenteeism of 3.6%, far below the district's 10.3% and the state's 17.3%.

Absenteeism varies sharply by level: Manawa Middle's 17.3% equals the state and far exceeds the district's 10.3%, while Little Wolf High sits at 13.0%. In 2025–26 only two reported school assessments exceeded state proficiency, compared with at least seven in 2024–25. Many year-over-year changes are large — middle school 7th grade math rose 27.24 points, high school ACT ELA rose 28.24 points, and elementary 3rd grade ELA fell 28.79 points — and, given small grade-level cohorts, should be read cautiously.