Summary
Franklin Elementary is a PK–5 school in Appleton, WI, serving 277 students as part of the Appleton Area School District, in a city where roughly 52.7% of the school's students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Franklin Elementary ranks 658th of 1,039 Wisconsin schools in 2025–26 (37th percentile, 2 stars), placing it slightly below the district average and just under the state midpoint. The school has climbed a long way from the bottom quartile: it sat at the 15th percentile in 2018–19 and 18th in 2021–22, and has held between the 35th and 38th percentile for the past three years.
Results vary considerably by grade and subject. In 2025–26, Franklin's brightest spots were 5th grade math (63.64%), 3rd grade math (59.18%), and 5th grade ELA (56.82%) — all above district and state levels. Averaged across grades, math proficiency was roughly 54.1%, above the district's roughly 49.5%, while ELA averaged about 49.8%, a bit below the district's roughly 51.3%. Fourth grade is the clear weak point: ELA 41.67%, math 39.58%, and science 29.17%, which fell from 51.22% the year before and was the lowest 4th grade science result among nearby schools with data.
Among nearby Appleton schools, Franklin sits in the lower-middle: it outranks Huntley Elementary, Appleton Bilingual School, Edison Elementary, Ronald C Dunlap Elementary School, and Highlands Elementary, but trails Classical School, Houdini Elementary, Ferber Elementary, and Richmond Elementary. A standout strength is support for special education students, where Franklin has ranked in the 57th–69th percentile over three years — well above its overall rank. Chronic absenteeism, at 16.5%, is higher than most nearby schools, though far below the 35.1% recorded in 2021–22. With a student–teacher ratio of 11.1 and per-student spending of $16,034, Franklin has reasonable resources; its progress will likely depend most on 4th grade achievement and attendance.
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