Summary
Parkside School is a public school in Wautoma, Wisconsin, serving about 480 students in grades 4 through 8 as part of the Wautoma Area School District. It is the largest school among its nearby peers and the only one in that group that also includes elementary grades. Its latest state ranking is 478th of 643 Wisconsin schools for 2025–26 — the 26th percentile, with 1 star. That is a significant slide: Parkside peaked in 2022–23 at the 56th percentile with 3 stars, then fell for three straight years, landing close to its pre-2019 lows.
Compared with nearby middle schools, a few things stand out. Attendance is a genuine strength: chronic absenteeism was 9.1% in 2024–25, well below Wisconsin's 17.3% and better than Berlin Middle (18.8%), Westfield Area Middle (13.1%), and Tri-County Middle (21.4%); only Almond-Bancroft Middle was slightly lower at 8.1%. The dropout rate is effectively zero. About 60% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Class sizes are the largest in the comparison group, with a student-teacher ratio of 13.9, and per-student spending of $12,132 is lower than Berlin, Almond-Bancroft, and Tri-County, though slightly above Westfield.
The academic picture is split. Grades 4 and 5 are a bright spot, scoring above the state average in 4th-grade ELA (62.90% vs. 53.87%), math, and science, and in 5th-grade ELA and math. Middle-grade results are the main concern. Sixth-grade ELA was 36.05% versus 54.95% statewide, and 6th-grade math 32.56% versus 53.60%. Seventh-grade ELA and 8th-grade math also trail the state, and 8th-grade social studies (51.49%) is the lowest among nearby schools. Special education students rank in the 47th percentile, above the school's overall standing. The clearest priorities are middle-grade reading, math, and the 5th-to-6th-grade transition.
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