Ladysmith High

Ladysmith High in Ladysmith, WI, is a public high school serving grades 9–12 with 255 students, part of the Ladysmith School District, in an area with several smaller nearby high schools. It is the largest of its nearby comparison schools but spends the least per student ($16,255) and has the highest student–teacher ratio (13.1), compared with Holcombe High, Bruce High, and Flambeau High. About 50.6% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Attendance is a relative bright spot. Chronic absenteeism was 15.4% in 2024–25, below Wisconsin’s 17.3% and much lower than Holcombe High (35.4%) and Flambeau High (22.5%), and slightly better than Bruce High (15.9%), though still above the Ladysmith School District rate of 12.2%. It has improved from 24.6% in 2021–22. Completion is mixed: the 90.9% graduation rate is below the state’s 92.0% and below Holcombe and Bruce, but above Flambeau’s 88.0%; the 1.1% dropout rate equals the state average and is lower than Bruce and Flambeau, while Holcombe reports 0.0%.

Academics are uneven and recently declining. In 2025–26 10th-grade tests, math proficiency was 24.14%—the lowest among the four nearby high schools and below the state’s 42.93%. Science was 31.03%, also lowest in the group and far below Holcombe’s 60.00%. Social studies was 24.53%, second-lowest and well below the state’s 48.25%. English language arts was 44.83%, just below the state’s 48.47%, similar to Bruce’s 44.00%, but far below Flambeau’s 62.86%. The school’s rank has fallen from the 52nd percentile in 2021–22 and 45th in 2023–24 to 21st in 2024–25 and 23rd in 2025–26. Low-socioeconomic-status students dropped from the 79th percentile in 2023–24 to 19th in 2025–26. Nearby, Holcombe has weaker ELA and social studies scores and higher absenteeism, while Bruce and Flambeau generally show stronger recent test results, with Flambeau reaching the 72nd percentile.