Savanna Oaks Middle

Savanna Oaks Middle is a 360-student school serving grades 6–8 in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, a suburban community just outside Madison, and is one of two middle schools in the Verona Area School District. Families weighing it against the larger Badger Ridge Middle in Verona proper are choosing between two schools with nearly identical student poverty rates but very different results.

Savanna Oaks has climbed quickly. After years in the middle of the pack — roughly the 50th to 66th percentile — it rose to the 80th percentile in 2024-25 and the 86th (4 stars) in 2025-26, a 226-position jump in three years. On 2025-26 state tests it averaged 71.6% proficient across eight measures, about 16 points above the Wisconsin average of 55.5%. It outperforms Badger Ridge in all eight, most sharply in 6th-grade English language arts and math. Among nearby schools, only Hamilton Middle clearly does better, about 9 points higher on average; Spring Harbor Middle edges it out in 8th-grade reading, social studies and science.

Two things complicate the picture. Results vary widely between groups of students: several groups rank among the top 10% in Wisconsin, while Hispanic students sit at the 31st percentile and students from low-income families at the 23rd, and both have been roughly flat for three years even as other groups surged. Chronic absenteeism also rose from 10.8% to 14.2% in a single year — still better than district and state averages, but well above Rome Corners Intermediate's 7.9%. Spending is high at $22,700 per student, yet Hamilton achieves more on about 25% less, which suggests the improvement comes from practice rather than money.