Summary:
Zip code 53029 in Hartland, Wisconsin, is served by two public middle schools: Merton Intermediate (grades 5–8, 368 students) in the Merton Community School District, and North Shore Middle (grades 6–8, 354 students) in the Hartland-Lakeside J3 School District. Both are elite, 5-star schools that rank among the best in Wisconsin.
Merton Intermediate is the more consistently top-ranked of the two. Its district ranks 3rd of 432 statewide (99th percentile, 5 stars), and its school rank has stayed in the top 7 every year: 6th of 643 in 2025–2026, 7th of 628 in 2024–2025, and 5th of 641 in 2023–2024. North Shore Middle ranks 28th of 432 by district (94th percentile, 5 stars), with school ranks of 12th of 643, 4th of 628, and 10th of 641. North Shore posted the single best rank in this data set — 4th of 628 in 2024–2025 — but has been slightly less steady at the very top than Merton.
Test scores at both schools are far above state averages of roughly 55%. For grades 6–8 in 2025–2026, Merton averaged about 87.0% overall versus North Shore’s 84.3%; Merton’s ELA average was 86.0% against North Shore’s 81.5%. Math is North Shore’s clear strength, averaging 88.3% in 2025–2026 and 89.3% in 2024–2025. Science slipped at both schools, with North Shore’s falling from 85.6% to 76.9%. Chronic absenteeism is very low at both — 4.9% at Merton and 5.1% at North Shore — compared with Wisconsin’s 17.3%. Dropout rates are 0.0% and 1.3% respectively (state: 1.1%). North Shore serves a higher free/reduced lunch population (15.82% versus 5.71%). Per-student spending is nearly identical, near $13,600, while Merton’s student-teacher ratio is slightly lower at 13.8 versus 14.7.
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