Wisconsin Virtual Academy K-8 (WIVA)

Wisconsin Virtual Academy K-8 (WIVA) is a PK–8 virtual public school located in McFarland, Wisconsin, part of the McFarland School District. It enrolls 1,393 students, far more than any nearby brick-and-mortar elementary school. WIVA's statewide rank has stayed in the bottom fifth of Wisconsin schools: 864th of 1,039 (17th percentile, 1 star) in 2025–2026, and 1 star every year in its reported history.

WIVA serves a high-poverty population: 68.13% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2024–2025, compared with 12.69% at McFarland Primary School and 17.59% at Waubesa Intermediate. It also spends less per student ($14,456) than every nearby school in the comparison group, whose spending runs roughly $16,598 to $28,249, and its student-teacher ratio of 22 is about double the nearby ratios of 9.6 to 13.6. Notably, WIVA reports 0.0% chronic absenteeism every year, versus 17.3% statewide and 5.8%–40.7% at nearby schools — an outlier that may reflect different attendance accounting in a virtual setting.

Academically, WIVA trails its district and the state in every subject. In 2025–2026, about 35.1% of tested students were proficient in ELA and 25.9% in math, versus 54.0% and 53.7% statewide; math is the largest gap, with 8th grade at 18.67% compared with 53.67% statewide. High-performing neighbors look very different: Forest Edge Elementary School averaged roughly 76.0% ELA and 73.4% math, Waubesa Intermediate about 68.9% and 69.7%, and Winnequah School about 69.0% and 65.7%. WIVA's results are closer to high-poverty urban schools such as Dr Virginia Henderson Elementary School, Lori Mann Carey Elementary, and One City Elementary School. Subgroup results are uneven — some groups have improved recently, while low-income students and students with disabilities remain below state averages. Because WIVA is virtual, serves PK–8, and draws from a wider area, comparisons with nearby brick-and-mortar schools are useful but not perfectly like-for-like.