Summary:
ZIP code 53012 is home to three elementary schools — Thorson Elementary, Parkview Elementary, and Westlawn Elementary — all part of the Cedarburg School District. All three serve grades PK–5 and together enroll 1,330 students. The district ranks #4 of 432 Wisconsin districts, at the 99th percentile with a 5-star rating, and each of these three schools also carries a 5-star rating.
Parkview is the clear academic leader, ranking #4 of 1,039 schools in 2025–2026 and beating the district average in every listed Forward Exam metric; its 4th grade math and social studies scores each reached 95.24%. Westlawn showed the biggest jump, moving from #33 of 1,044 to #11 of 1,039, and improving 4th grade science from 66.67% to 85.71%, 4th grade math from 79.63% to 90.48%, and 5th grade math from 73.91% to 84.62%. Thorson is the largest school at 529 students and posted the highest 5th grade ELA score of the three at 90%, along with strong science (87.01%) and social studies (90.91%) results.
All three schools far exceed state averages — state proficiency rates sit in the low-to-mid 50s for most subjects, while these schools generally land in the mid-80s to mid-90s. Chronic absenteeism is remarkably low: Parkview 2.0%, Thorson 2.7%, Westlawn 3.3%, compared with a district rate of 6.0% and a state rate of 17.3%. Their contexts differ, though: Thorson has the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (6.62%) and lowest per-student spending ($13,116), while Westlawn has the highest free/reduced lunch rate (14.81%), highest spending ($13,769), smallest enrollment (297), and lowest student-teacher ratio (14.8). Families here are choosing among three of the strongest elementary schools in Wisconsin.
Thank you for your feedback!