Summary:
The Medford Area Public School District covers five schools — two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and one alternative PK–12 school — with about 4,282 students listed in total, and the district ranks 171st of 432 Wisconsin districts, at the 60th percentile with 3 stars.
Stetsonville Elementary is the strongest-ranked school in the group, reaching 80th percentile with 4 stars in 2024–2025 and holding 70th percentile with 4 stars in 2025–2026, while posting the lowest chronic absenteeism at 5.4% and strong science and math results — even though it has the highest free/reduced lunch rate at 52.22%. Rural Virtual Academy is the scale outlier: with 2,259 students it is larger than the other four schools combined, about 52.8% of listed enrollment. It has the lowest per-student spending ($8,833), the highest student-teacher ratio (26.7), the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (30.94%), and the highest graduation rate (96.7%), with very strong ELA, social studies, and science scores but weaker math in some grades, such as 5th grade math at 40.63%.
Medford Elementary has improved steadily by rank (50th to 54th to 60th percentile) with low chronic absenteeism at 6.5%, and Medford High rebounded from 21st percentile in 2024–2025 to 44th percentile in 2025–2026, led by ACT Math at 51.01%, though its chronic absenteeism is the highest at 21.8% and ACT ELA and 10th grade Social Studies remain below district and state. Medford Middle ranks lowest but showed large 8th grade gains in ELA, social studies, and science and reports 0.0% dropout. Across the district, elementary absenteeism (5.4% and 6.5%) is far lower than secondary levels (14.5%, 15.7%, and 21.8%), and spending and class size do not track neatly with outcomes.
Thank you for your feedback!