Summary
Adams-Friendship Middle is a grades 5–8 school with 338 students in Adams, WI, part of the Adams-Friendship Area School District, serving a rural central Wisconsin community. It is the largest school in its comparison group and the only one serving 5th grade; nearby Olson Middle, Westfield Area Middle, and Necedah Middle are all grades 6–8. It holds a 1-star rating and has ranked below the 30th percentile for ten straight years, never earning a second star. The district ranks 410th of 432 in Wisconsin (5th percentile), so the middle school’s 15th-percentile rank is actually stronger than its district’s overall standing.
On the 2025-2026 Forward Exam, every reported subject and grade at Adams-Friendship Middle was below the state average. The widest gaps are in 8th-grade science (21.69% proficient vs. 51.86% statewide) and 8th-grade social studies (39.76% vs. 64.63%), with 8th-grade ELA also far behind at 30.12% vs. 54.38%. Compared with nearby schools, the upper-grade literacy-dependent subjects are the sharpest separation: 8th-grade ELA is 30.1% here versus 51.3% at Olson Middle and 56.1% at Westfield Area Middle. In 6th- through 8th-grade math, the school averages 33.8% proficient, behind Olson (51.3%) and Westfield (47.2%) but ahead of Necedah Middle (17.1%). A clear bright spot is 8th-grade math at 38.55%, the school’s highest math result at any grade.
Adams-Friendship Middle spends $18,404 per student—more than any peer—and has the smallest classes (8.4 students per teacher), yet it trails Olson Middle and Westfield Area Middle in most academic measures, even though Westfield Area Middle spends $11,356 per student with much larger classes. The school’s 62.4% free/reduced-lunch rate is a significant headwind. Engagement is improving: chronic absenteeism fell to 19.2%, down from 23.6% two years earlier and below the district’s 23.4%, while the dropout rate is 0.0%, the best in the comparison group. Subgroup performance is uneven, with special education falling from the 37th percentile in 2023-2024 to the 8th percentile in 2025-2026. Overall, this is a high-poverty, well-resourced, low-performing school whose real strengths—near-zero dropout, better attendance, and solid 8th-grade math—are narrow, while upper-grade ELA, science, social studies, and special education trends need the most attention.
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