Ithaca High

Ithaca High in Richland Center, WI, is a very small rural high school serving 105 students in grades 9-12, with a low student-to-teacher ratio of 10.3:1 and per-pupil spending above the state average. The school presents a mixed picture: it has a notable strength in Social Studies, where 61.54% of 10th graders were proficient in 2024-2025, dramatically outperforming the state average (47.67%) and nearby Richland Center High (45.78%), though it trails Riverdale High (72.34%). However, the school struggles with volatile academic performance across subjects, with Math proficiency swinging from 19.35% to 50% and back to 39.29% in recent years, a pattern common in very small schools where a single cohort can shift metrics dramatically.

A critical challenge is a striking gender achievement gap: in 2023-2024, female students ranked in the top 14% statewide (86th percentile), earning a 4-star rating, while male students ranked in the bottom 16% (16th percentile), earning a 1-star rating—a 70-percentile-point disparity. This suggests the school is highly effective for its female students but is failing to engage and educate its male students at the same level, pointing to a need for targeted, gender-responsive teaching strategies. Additionally, chronic absenteeism is alarmingly high at 27.7% in 2024-2025, far exceeding the state average of 17.3% and the highest among area comprehensive high schools like Reedsburg Area High and River Valley High, indicating deep-seated issues with student engagement or barriers to attendance.

Despite these challenges, the school's performance with female students is a genuine success story, demonstrating capacity for high-quality instruction. The Ithaca School District is ranked in the bottom 14% of districts statewide, but the school benefits from resource-rich conditions. Addressing chronic absenteeism—through community outreach, mental health support, or engagement programs—would likely have the most significant positive impact on all other metrics. Compared to Richland Center High, which serves a larger (512 students) and higher-poverty population (52.93% free/reduced lunch), Ithaca outperforms in Social Studies but lags in English Language Arts (46.43% vs. 50.59%) and Science (28.57% vs. 44.71%), suggesting its small size is an advantage in some subjects but not others.