Summary:
The Portage Community School District in Portage, Wisconsin, has just one middle school — Wayne Bartels Middle — serving 422 students in grades 6 through 8.
Because it is the only middle school in the district, Wayne Bartels Middle is the entire middle-level picture. It ranks 382nd of 643 Wisconsin middle schools (41st percentile, 2 stars), while the district ranks 244th of 432 (44th percentile, 2 stars). Its clearest strength is 8th grade math, where 55.08% of students are proficient — above both the district (54.17%) and the state (53.67%). Eighth grade ELA is essentially at the state level (54.24% vs. 54.38%). The school meets or beats district middle-grade averages in all eight tested areas, so it is not lagging its own district. The biggest academic weakness is 6th grade ELA at 40.77%, which is 14.18 points below the state, though it did improve 2.49 points. Eighth grade science had the sharpest reversal, dropping 8.56 points, from 55.17% (above the state) to 46.61% (below it). Seventh grade also slipped in both ELA (-4.61) and math (-3.93), even as state averages rose slightly.
Non-test measures tell a mixed story. The dropout rate is low at 0.3%, below the district's 0.5% and the state's 1.1%. Yet chronic absenteeism is high at 25.4%, compared with 20.4% in the district and 17.3% statewide — roughly one in four of the 422 students. About 40.05% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch (roughly 169 students), per-student spending is $15,813, and the student-teacher ratio is 13.3 (about 32 teachers). Rank history improved from the 36th percentile in 2023–24 to the 41st in 2024–25, then plateaued at 41st in 2025–26. Overall: strong 8th grade math, near-state 8th grade ELA, a wide 6th grade ELA gap, and absenteeism as the most visible challenge.
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