Summary:
ZIP code 53121 is served by a single middle school, Elkhorn Area Middle, which educates students in grades 6 through 8 within the Elkhorn Area School District and enrolls 659 students in a moderate-need community, where about 34.14% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Overall, the school performs above the state average, with about 58.81% of students proficient across its 2025–26 Forward Exam subjects compared with 55.51% statewide, but slightly below its own district average of 59.61%. Its 6th grade is the clearest bright spot: ELA 6 jumped 13.70 points to 65.16, and Math 6 rose 11.05 points to 61.54, both well above state levels. ELA 7 (63.32), Math 8 (56.13), and Social Studies 8 (66.51) also beat the state. The main concerns sit in 8th grade, where Science 8 fell sharply from 61.24 to 49.29 — now 2.57 points below state — and ELA 8 slipped from 61.06 to 53.77, just under the state average. Math 7 (54.77) also came in slightly below state. The school trails its own district in seven of eight subject-grade comparisons.
Where Elkhorn Area Middle truly stands out is student engagement. Chronic absenteeism is just 2.3%, far below the district's 6.0% and the state's 17.3%, and the dropout rate of 0.4% is lower than both the district (0.6%) and state (1.1%). Per-student spending is $14,673 with a 15.3:1 student-teacher ratio. The school holds 3 stars and has climbed from the 51st percentile in 2023–24 to the 60th percentile in 2025–26, ranking 256 of 643 middle schools. The district itself is rated 4 stars at the 72nd percentile, so the school is above state average but still has room to match its district.
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