Wedgewood Park School

Wedgewood Park School is a 6–8 middle school in the Milwaukee School District serving 541 students, located in a high-poverty Milwaukee neighborhood where 77.63% of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024-25. Statewide, it ranks 576th of 643 middle schools (10th percentile, 1 star), and that rank has drifted down from the 21st percentile in 2015-16. The district itself ranks 418th of 432 Wisconsin districts.

Academically, proficiency is well below state averages: roughly 25 points below in English language arts, about 34 points in math, 32 in social studies, and 34 in science. Eighth-grade science is a standout weakness at 18.18% proficient, compared with 26.11% in the district and 51.86% statewide, and social studies (32.73%) also falls below the district. Chronic absenteeism is the biggest red flag: 50.3% of students in 2024-25, nearly three times Wisconsin's 17.3% rate. Dropout, by contrast, is low at 0.2%, so students are staying enrolled — the challenges are attendance and learning, not retention. The school spends $20,665 per student, more than many nearby schools with stronger results.

Compared with neighbors, Wedgewood Park sits near the bottom: Longfellow Middle (89th percentile), Whitnall Middle (85th), and Greendale Middle (75th) post proficiency rates of 60–80% and absenteeism under 9%. However, Wedgewood Park outperforms same-district Audubon Technology and Communication Middle (5th percentile), and schools with similar poverty, like West Milwaukee Intermediate (76.72% low-income, 20.9% absenteeism) and United Community Center Acosta Middle School, achieve higher scores — suggesting poverty alone does not explain the results. Subgroup rankings are lowest for low-income and special education students.