ARISE Virtual Academy

ARISE Virtual Academy is a small alternative virtual school serving grades K–12 with 119 students in Janesville, Wisconsin, part of the Janesville School District, which ranks 257th of 432 districts statewide (2 stars, 41st percentile). Nearby options include Youth Services Center (10 students, same district), Beloit Virtual School (46 students, about 11.5 miles away), and The Lincoln Academy (727 students).

Its most striking feature is not test scores but student engagement. In 2024–25, only 1.5% of ARISE students were chronically absent, compared with 22.0% across the district and 17.3% statewide. The graduation rate was 92.5%, close to the district's 93.0% and the state's 92.0%, and the dropout rate was just 1.1%. That compares well with nearby alternatives: Beloit Virtual School posted 82.4% chronic absenteeism and a 6.6% dropout rate, while Youth Services Center reported a 16.6% graduation rate and an 83.3% dropout rate. The Lincoln Academy matched ARISE's low dropout at 0.0% with a 100% graduation rate and 9.8% chronic absenteeism.

Academics are more uneven. In 2025–26, ARISE beat district and state in 3rd grade ELA (71.43%), 7th grade ELA (57.14%) and 10th grade social studies (55.56%), but every reported Forward math grade fell below district and state, and 10th grade ACT results were far below: 20.00% in ELA, 13.33% in science and 6.67% in math. Results also swing widely year to year — 8th grade ELA went from 31.25% in 2022–23 to 82.35% in 2023–24, then down again — which suggests small grade-level cohorts, so single-year numbers are signals rather than firm trends. About 46.22% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch, the student–teacher ratio is 11:1, and spending is $15,127 per student.