Summary
Ithaca Middle is a small public middle school in Richland Center, a rural community in southwestern Wisconsin, serving grades 6–8 with 69 students as part of the Ithaca School District. For 2025-26 the school ranks 353/643 statewide (45th percentile, 2 stars), a clear improvement from the previous two years, when it sat at the 28th–29th percentile with 1 star. Its district ranks lower overall at 323/432 (25th percentile, 1 star), so the middle school is actually one of the stronger parts of its district. Among nearby schools, it places 4th of 5, ahead of Webb Middle but behind Riverdale Junior High, River Ridge Middle, and Weston Junior High School.
The academic picture is uneven. Eighth-grade science (66.67% proficient) and social studies (72.22%) beat state averages and rank among the area's best. But 7th- and 8th-grade English language arts both sit at 38.89%, far below the state's roughly 54–55% and the lowest among nearby schools, and 8th-grade math is 50.00%. For contrast, River Ridge Middle ranks 69/643 (89th percentile, 4 stars) with much higher proficiency across subjects, and Riverdale Junior High and Weston Junior High School also edge out Ithaca. The school does show promise with some groups: low-income students reached the 71st percentile (4 stars) in 2025-26, up from 15th percentile, and female students reached the 64th percentile (3 stars). Male students, however, remain at the 33rd percentile (2 stars), a notable gap.
Attendance is the biggest concern. Chronic absenteeism jumped to 26.5% in 2024-25, up from 12.5% the year before, and it now exceeds the district's 20.7% and the state's 17.3%. Only Weston Junior High School (30.8%) is higher locally, while top-ranked River Ridge Middle reports just 5.0%. Resources are relatively strong: Ithaca's student-teacher ratio of 9.5 is the lowest among these nearby schools, and its $17,346 per-pupil spending is second only to River Ridge's — yet Riverdale Junior High achieves slightly better results while spending less. Finally, with only 69 students, a handful of students can swing a grade's proficiency percentage, so single-year changes should be read cautiously and multi-year trends trusted more.
Thank you for your feedback!