Summary
Pershing Elementary is a PK–5 school in West Milwaukee, WI, with 250 students in the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District. Statewide, it ranks 808th of 1,039 schools in 2025–2026, or the 22nd percentile, with a 1-star rating; the district ranks 400th of 432 districts. That makes Pershing a lower-performing school in absolute statewide terms, but it is the highest-ranked of the nearby comparison schools and has improved from the 12th percentile in 2023–2024.
Its strongest recent signal is attendance: chronic absenteeism fell to 12.0% in 2024–2025, better than the district (19.5%) and state (17.3%), and down from 38.6% in 2020–2021. That is much lower than nearby Mitchell Elementary (54.3%), Doerfler Elementary (49.4%), Burbank Elementary (39.7%), Rogers Street Academy (37.8%), and Seeds of Health Elementary Program (36.9%), though ALBA - Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (4.9%) and Woodlands School (11.8%) are comparable or better. Test scores are uneven but include bright spots: 5th-grade ELA was 50.00% proficient, above the district and near the state, and 3rd-grade math was 61.11%, above the state and far above same-district Horace Mann Elementary (17.86%). Pershing also outperforms most nearby Milwaukee School District schools in many ELA and math comparisons, though a few nearby schools show strengths in specific areas.
Challenges remain: 4th-grade science was 22.86% and 4th-grade social studies 40.00%, both below district and state, and overall proficiency is still below state levels. Subgroup results are not uniform; English Language Learner students rank in the 1st percentile statewide in 2025–2026, a major concern, while some other groups show stronger results. About 74.8% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, the student-teacher ratio is 13.9, and per-student spending is $15,623—less than most nearby schools. At 250 students, Pershing is the smallest nearby school, which can support personal attention but also makes grade-level percentages more volatile from year to year.
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