New Auburn School District

The New Auburn School District in Wisconsin is a very small rural district serving 280 students across three schools — New Auburn Elementary (PK–5, 132 students), New Auburn Middle (6–8, 49 students), and New Auburn High (9–12, 99 students). The district ranks 354th of 432 in the state, but its challenges do not come from the usual red flags: free/reduced lunch is only about 3.2% district-wide, per-student spending is high ($17,410 to $19,180), and chronic absenteeism at all three schools (7.1%, 11.8%, and 12.2%) is below the state's 17.3%.

New Auburn High has the strongest overall story, with a 95.8% graduation rate and 0.0% dropout rate versus 92.0% and 1.1% statewide, plus 10th-grade social studies at 64.71% vs. 48.25% and ACT math at 48.39% vs. 42.93%. Its weak spots are ACT ELA (29.03% vs. 48.47%) and science (35.48% vs. 43.2%). New Auburn Middle shows a striking subject split: 8th-grade science 80% vs. 51.86%, social studies 80% vs. 64.63%, and ELA 70% vs. 54.38%, yet 8th-grade math is 20% vs. 53.67%, with 7th-grade math at 28.57% and 6th-grade math at 36.84%. It also has the smallest classes (6.9 student-teacher ratio).

New Auburn Elementary is more uneven. Fourth-grade math is a bright spot (66.67% vs. 52.87% in 2025–26, and 90.48% in 2024–25), but 5th-grade math (21.05% vs. 51.81%) and 5th-grade ELA (26.32% vs. 53.63%) fall far below state. Because the middle school has only 49 students, single-year percentages can swing widely. The clearest strengths are middle-school 8th-grade ELA, science, and social studies, elementary 4th-grade math, and high-school graduation and social studies; the clearest concerns are middle-school math, elementary 5th-grade reading and math, and high-school ACT ELA and science.