Mitchell School

Mitchell School is a PK–8 elementary and middle school at 2701 Drexel Ave in Racine, Wisconsin, serving 1,040 students as part of the Racine Unified School District. It is the largest PK–8 building among its nearby comparison schools, and 77.6% of its students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch in 2024–25.

Academically, the school sits at the very bottom of Wisconsin's rankings: 1001st of 1,039 schools in 2025–26 — the 4th percentile, 0 stars — and it has never left the bottom decile in a decade of records. On the 2025–26 Forward Exam, proficiency averaged about 13% in English Language Arts and 6% in math across grades 3–8, against district averages near 30% and 22%. Math is the deepest concern, with 8th-grade math at 3.5%. The most extreme number, though, is attendance: 46.7% of students were chronically absent, the highest rate in the comparison group and roughly 2.7 times the state rate. There are bright spots — chronic absenteeism has improved about 21 points since 2021–22, ELA rebounded roughly 5 points this year, and the reported dropout rate is 0.2%.

Comparisons with nearby schools stand out. Knapp Elementary, 0.72 miles away, serves a poorer population (85.7% free/reduced lunch), spends $1,576 less per student and runs larger classes, yet posts roughly double Mitchell's ELA proficiency and more than triple its math proficiency. Goodland Montessori, the highest-scoring school in the group, spends the least and has the largest classes among non-charter schools, while Gilmore Fine Arts School and Starbuck International School also outperform it. Mitchell, by contrast, spends $18,829 per student with a 10.7-to-1 student–teacher ratio — so money and class size do not appear to be the binding constraint on its results.