Summary:
Elementary schools in the Monona Grove School District serve roughly 1,643 students across four schools in Monona and Cottage Grove, and they divide the elementary years into clear grade bands: Taylor Prairie Elementary (PK–K), Cottage Grove Elementary (1–2), Granite Ridge School (3–5), and Winnequah School (PK–5), the only standalone building. The district ranks 127th of 432 in Wisconsin, at the 71st percentile with 4 stars. Because Forward Exam testing starts in third grade, only Winnequah and Granite Ridge have test scores; the blank results for the two Cottage Grove primary schools reflect their grade spans, not weak performance.
Winnequah is the academic leader among tested schools, ranking 214th of 1,039 at the 79th percentile with 4 stars, and it outperformed Granite Ridge on every reported test in both years. Its top 2025–2026 results were 4th-grade Social Studies at 80.21%, 3rd-grade ELA at 74.49%, and 4th-grade ELA and Science at 72.92%. Granite Ridge showed the biggest improvement, rising from 483rd to 350th and from the 54th to the 66th percentile, with Social Studies climbing from 64.56% to 79.02%. Both schools beat state averages, though Granite Ridge stayed below district averages in most subjects, and grade 5 was the weakest area for both.
Attendance is a strength: every school came in below the district's 16.7% and the state's 17.3% chronic absenteeism, led by Cottage Grove Elementary at 10.4%, with Winnequah highest at 15.2%. Student-teacher ratios range from 10.1 to 12.5. Per-student spending is highest at Taylor Prairie ($19,579) and lowest at Granite Ridge ($16,376). Free/reduced lunch rates are similar across all four, from 20.27% to 22.80%. Overall, this is a solid district with meaningful variation between individual schools.
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