Summary
Washburn High is a small public high school serving 182 students in grades 9–12 in Washburn, Wisconsin, a Lake Superior community in the state's far north. In 2025–26 it ranked 115th of 533 Wisconsin high schools — the 78th percentile, a 4-star rating, and the best showing in the ten years of rank history available. That standing is well above its own Washburn School District, which sits at the 53rd percentile statewide, and far above the neighboring Bayfield School District (3rd percentile) and Ashland School District (20th percentile).
Academically, Washburn High leads both nearby high schools and the state in every subject tested in grade 10. In English language arts, 65% of students were proficient, versus 33.33% at Bayfield High, 32.59% at Ashland High, and 48.47% statewide; in math, 50% versus 12.5%, 25.19%, and 42.93%. The school's low-income students ranked in the 97th percentile statewide (5 stars) in 2024–25, the 96th (5 stars) in 2023–24, and the 88th (4 stars) in 2025–26. The exception is special education students, at the 25th percentile (1 star) in the only year reported. Washburn spends $19,386 per student; Bayfield spends $28,867 with a 7.7:1 student–teacher ratio yet trails by 20–38 points in every subject.
Graduation and dropout figures are strong: a 100% graduation rate in 2024–25 versus 92% statewide, and a 1.1% dropout rate matching the state. The clearest weakness is attendance — 46.6% of students are chronically absent, nearly three times the 17.3% state rate, though better than Bayfield (58.0%) and worse than Ashland (40.2%). Because cohorts here are small, single-year swings should be read with caution, but the multi-year trends in math and English are rising, and attendance remains the most obvious lever for further improvement.
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