Owen-Withee School District

The Owen-Withee School District serves roughly 472 PK–12 students across three schools in north-central Wisconsin: Owen-Withee Elementary (PK–5, 221 students), Owen-Withee Junior High (grades 6–8, 112 students), and Owen-Withee High (grades 9–12, 139 students). As a district, Owen-Withee ranks in the 15th percentile statewide with 1 star, but that single rating hides very different results at each school. The elementary and junior high both earn 2 stars and sit near the 40th percentile, while the high school is the main drag on the district profile at the 15th percentile with 1 star. Poverty is high across all three schools, with free/reduced lunch between about 55% and 59%.

Owen-Withee Elementary stands out for attendance: chronic absenteeism is 6.9%, far below the district's 14.1% and the state's 17.3%. It also posts strong 4th grade results in ELA (62.16%) and Social Studies (67.57%), both above state. Its weak spot is current 5th grade, where ELA and Math are both 44.44%, below state. Owen-Withee Junior High is the clearest improvement story, moving from 1 star to 2 stars and from the 23rd to the 40th percentile. Its 6th grade ELA and Math (64% each) and 7th grade Math (58.33%) now beat state averages, and it did so despite having the district's highest free/reduced lunch rate (58.93%), highest student-teacher ratio (20.1), and lowest per-student spending ($9,729).

Owen-Withee High presents a striking contrast: a 100% graduation rate and 0% dropout rate, yet ACT proficiency far below state — ELA 15.38% vs. 48.47%, Math 20.51% vs. 42.93%, and Science 23.08% vs. 43.2%. Its chronic absenteeism, 21.4%, is above the state. Across the district, above-state assessments rose from 2 of 19 to 5 of 20, driven mostly by the junior high, so momentum is positive in the middle grades, flat in elementary, and negative at the high school.