Summary:
Shawano School District serves roughly 2,079 students in five schools in and around Shawano, Wisconsin, spanning preschool through grade 12: two PK–2 elementary schools (Hillcrest Primary School and LEADS Primary Charter School), Brener Elementary for grades 3–5, Shawano Community Middle for grades 6–8, and Shawano High. The Wisconsin state tests only cover grades 3–8 and grade 10, so the two PK–2 primaries have no test-score data at all — their absence from test results reflects grade level, not performance. The district overall ranks 371 of 432 Wisconsin districts.
Two schools stand out positively. Shawano Community Middle is the only building beating the state in reading-free measures at scale: its math scores are above the state average in all three tested grades, its 8th-grade science is slightly above state, and its dropout rate of 0.6% is the district's lowest. LEADS Primary Charter School has the area's best school climate — chronic absenteeism of just 3.3% versus 22.4% district-wide and 17.3% statewide — along with the lowest free/reduced lunch share (33.75%). Shawano High posts a strong 94.7% graduation rate, above the state's 92.0%.
Attendance is the district's broadest challenge: four of five schools exceed the state chronic absenteeism rate, with Hillcrest Primary School highest at 28.6% — a striking contrast with LEADS, which occupies the same building and grade span. At Shawano High, all four tested measures fell below state and every subject declined year over year, with ACT math dropping 11.4 points. Across all 18 reported school-level tests, only six matched or beat the state. Per-student spending ranges from $14,946 to $17,836 and does not clearly track results.
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