Summary:
Rio Community School District is a small Wisconsin district serving about 352 students across two schools: Rio Middle/High for grades 6–12 (183 students) and Rio Elementary for grades PK–5 (169 students). The district is rated 1 star, ranking 307th of 432 districts (29th percentile), but that single rating hides very different year-to-year results at each school. Because the schools are small, grade-level cohorts are roughly 20–30 students, so a handful of students can move a proficiency rate by several points.
Each school has real strengths. Rio Elementary stands out for attendance: chronic absenteeism is 2.1%, far below the district's 8.7% and the state's 17.3%. Its 4th grade social studies and science scores are well above state averages in both 2024–25 and 2025–26 (78.95% vs. 65.51% and 68.42% vs. 53.46% in 2025–26). Rio Middle/High posts a 96.3% graduation rate and a 0.6% dropout rate, both better than the state (92.0% and 1.1%), and its 8th grade science and social studies results were exceptional in 2024–25 (91.3% in both). Both schools share nearly identical free/reduced lunch rates (about 37%), and per-student spending is roughly $19,940 district-wide, with low student-teacher ratios of 9.2 and 11.7.
The main concern is a broad 2025–26 decline. Rio Middle/High fell from 70th percentile with 4 stars to 30th percentile with 1 star, and its ACT ELA dropped to 28% versus the state's 48.47%. Math is the weakest subject at both schools, including 4th grade math at 36.84% versus 52.87% and 3rd grade ELA at 28% versus 52.08% at Rio Elementary, which slipped from 63rd to 44th percentile. Social studies and science remain comparative bright spots, and the district's low overall rating largely reflects the recent single-year decline rather than a long-standing pattern.
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