Summary
Independence Elementary is a PK–5 school of 182 students in the small rural community of Independence, WI, in Trempealeau County, and it serves as the elementary campus of the Independence School District. It sits in the bottom third of Wisconsin elementary schools (28th percentile in 2025-2026, 1 star), but it has improved three years running — 17th percentile in 2023-2024, 21st in 2024-2025, and 28th now, the best showing since 2018-2019. The school actually ranks higher than its own district, which sits in the 13th percentile statewide.
Math is a real strength in grades 3 and 4: 66.7% and 70.4% of students are proficient, above the state's 54.8% and 52.9%. Reading is the opposite. English language arts proficiency is 27–30% in grades 3, 4, and 5 — roughly half the state rate and near the bottom among nearby schools. The same fourth-graders who reached 70.4% in math scored 29.6% in ELA, 40.7% in science, and 44.4% in social studies, so the reading-heavy subjects are exactly where they struggle.
Demographics matter here: 76.9% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, far above neighbors like Galesville Elementary (30.8%), Ettrick Elementary (27.4%), and Gilmanton Elementary (30.8%). Against its closest demographic match, Arcadia Elementary (82.7%), Independence clearly outperforms — 28th vs. 12th percentile. Chronic absenteeism has fallen from 32.7% to 16.7%, now near the state average of 17.3%, though still the highest locally. English learners rank in the 54th percentile with 3 stars and special education students in the 39th, both above the school overall. Spending is $19,475 per student with a 9.9:1 ratio — the most generous in the area. Bottom line: this is a well-resourced, high-poverty school outperforming its raw rank, with reading as its one clear bottleneck.
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