Rib Lake Elementary

Rib Lake Elementary is a PK–5 school in the small northern Wisconsin community of Rib Lake, serving 239 students in the Rib Lake School District. It is one of the top elementary schools in the state: for 2025–2026 it ranked 67th of 1,039 Wisconsin elementary schools (94th percentile, 5 stars), a position it has held for three straight years. Nearby schools perform well but at a different level — Stetsonville Elementary ranked 308th (70th percentile, 4 stars), Medford Elementary 415th (60th percentile, 3 stars), and Prentice Elementary 591st (43rd percentile, 2 stars). The school's long-term trend is strongly upward, from the middle of the state pack in the mid-2010s to a sustained top-decile position since 2023–2024.

Test scores are above the state in every reported subject and grade. In 2025–2026, math proficiency ranged from 77.78% to 81.82% across grades 3–5, while state math proficiency was roughly 52–55%. ELA ranged from 71.88% to 77.78%, and Grade 4 social studies reached 85.19%. Science was 70.37%, above Wisconsin's 53.46%, though Stetsonville Elementary posted 76.19% that year. Attendance is a standout: chronic absenteeism was 1.0% in 2024–2025, compared with 17.3% statewide, 5.4% at Stetsonville, 6.5% at Medford, and 23.2% at Prentice.

The school is also effective across student groups, which families often weigh heavily. Its low-socioeconomic-status students have ranked at the 98th percentile for three consecutive years, and special education students ranked in the top 8% or better in the most recent two years. This stands out because about 48% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — a higher rate than Medford Elementary's 41.23%. Results come without unusually large resources: per-student spending was $12,279 and the student-teacher ratio was 11.9 in 2024–2025, moderate compared with Prentice Elementary ($13,626) and Stetsonville ($12,379). One caveat: with 239 students, grade-level cohorts are small and single-grade percentages can swing from year to year.