Summary:
Stratford Middle is the only middle school serving grades 6–8 in the Stratford School District in Wisconsin, enrolling 163 students, and it is a 4-star school in the top 30% of ranked middle schools statewide.
Academically, the school's standout strength is math: all three grades scored above 70% proficiency in 2025–2026, with 6th grade at 75%, 7th grade at 71.15%, and 8th grade at 71.43%, compared with state averages near 54%. The math average of 72.53% is 18.21 percentage points above the state. Reading results are more mixed. Sixth and 7th grade ELA improved year over year, reaching 65% and 71.15%, both well above state averages. However, 8th grade is the clear pressure point: 8th grade ELA fell 14.88 points to 46.94%, below the state's 54.38%, and 8th grade Science dropped 13.28 points to 44.9%, below the state's 51.86%. Eighth grade Social Studies was a bright spot at 69.39%, up 2.12 points and 4.76 points above the state. Overall, the school's tested average of 64.37% still beats the state's 55.51%, though its advantage narrowed from 13.37 points a year earlier.
Non-academic indicators are excellent: chronic absenteeism is just 5.0% versus the state's 17.3%, and the dropout rate is 0.0% versus 1.1% statewide. Per-student spending is $15,140, with a student-teacher ratio of 13.4 and 24.54% of students receiving free or reduced lunch. One thing to watch is the ranking trend, which slipped from 76th of 641 (88th percentile) in 2023–2024 to 192nd of 643 (70th percentile) in 2025–2026, even as the school held its 4-star rating. That decline aligns with the recent 8th grade ELA and Science drops. With only 163 students, individual grade cohorts are small, so year-to-year swings may reflect cohort-specific factors rather than a schoolwide trend. Families should note that the Stratford School District overall ranks 77th of 432 districts, in the 82nd percentile.
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