Wabeno Area School District

The Wabeno Area School District in Wisconsin serves about 389 students across just two schools: Wabeno Elementary, which covers grades PK–5 with 196 students, and Wabeno High, which covers grades 6–12 with 193 students. There is no separate middle school, so the middle grades sit inside the high school. The district as a whole ranks 399 out of 432 Wisconsin districts — the 8th percentile — with 0 stars, meaning both schools operate within one of the lowest-ranked districts in the state.

Wabeno Elementary is the stronger of the two. It earned 2 stars in each of the last three ranking years and placed 720 of 1,039 schools (31st percentile) in 2025–2026, compared with 1 star and 17th percentile for Wabeno High. It also has lower chronic absenteeism (17.4% vs. 20.3%), lower free/reduced lunch (56.12% vs. 61.66%), higher per-student spending ($12,023 vs. $11,425) and a smaller student-teacher ratio (10.6 vs. 11.5). Its results are still mixed: 5th grade math was above the state level in both years (70.83% in 2024–2025), but 3rd grade math fell to 32% in 2025–2026, roughly 23 points below the state.

Wabeno High faces larger challenges. Its graduation rate is 86.2% against 92.0% statewide, and its dropout rate of 3.3% is three times the state's 1.1%. Chronic absenteeism is 20.3%. In 2025–2026, several scores fell far below state: 8th grade English language arts at 22.22%, 10th grade social studies at 16.67%, and ACT English language arts dropping from an above-state 54.55% to 23.81%. Bright spots include 6th grade English language arts and math in 2025–2026. Both schools serve majority low-income populations, and improvement efforts will likely need to focus on the middle and high school grades.