Summary
Spooner High is a public high school in Spooner, Wisconsin, a small community in the northwestern part of the state, serving grades 9–12 in the Spooner Area School District and enrolling 361 students. Its latest 2025–2026 ranking is 259 of 533 Wisconsin high schools — the 51st percentile with 3 stars — while the district ranks 232 of 432, or the 46th percentile with 2 stars. That reflects real long-term improvement: from 2015–2016 through 2017–2018 the school sat in the bottom quartile with 1 star, then rose to the 51st percentile in 2021–2022, dipped into the 39th–46th percentile range, and returned to the 51st percentile in 2025–2026.
Graduation is a strength: 95.1% in 2024–2025, above Wisconsin's 92.0%. Tenth-grade Forward Social Studies proficiency was 54.29%, above the state's 48.25%, and it has topped the state every year from 2022–2023 through 2025–2026. The clearest concerns are engagement and ACT results. Chronic absenteeism climbed from 10.9% in 2020–2021 to 22.9% in 2024–2025 — above the district's 16.0% and the state's 17.3% — and the dropout rate edged up to 1.7% versus 1.1% statewide. ACT ELA was 41.77% (state: 48.47%), ACT Math 40.51% (state: 42.93%), and ACT Science 43.04%, essentially at the state's 43.20%.
The closest comparison is Shell Lake Junior/Senior High, about 8 miles away. Its school rank is 176 of 533 (67th percentile, 3 stars) and its Shell Lake School District sits at the 80th percentile with 4 stars, though its school rank slipped from the 81st percentile the prior year while Spooner improved. Shell Lake posts a 97.9% graduation rate, a 0.6% dropout rate, and 12.9% chronic absenteeism, and it outperforms Spooner in ACT ELA, Math, and Science while spending $16,862 per student with a 13.4 student–teacher ratio, compared with Spooner's $14,481 and 14.3, despite similar free/reduced-lunch shares (41.27% and 40.67%). Within Spooner, results vary by group: male students rank at the 55th percentile, female students at the 39th, White students at the 35th, and low-income and special education students near the school's overall 51st percentile.
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