Summary:
ZIP code 53216 in Milwaukee has six schools serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade — four elementary and PK–8 schools, one high school, and one alternative PK–12 academy — with 2,459 students enrolled altogether. Five of them are part of Milwaukee School District, which is ranked 418 out of 432 in Wisconsin, at the 3rd percentile with 0 stars. Dr Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy is its own district and is not ranked in the data. Marshall High is the largest school at 639 students, and Townsend Street Elementary is the smallest at 257.
The sharpest contrast is between Marshall High and Dr Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy. Fuller reports a 91.2% graduation rate, 1.9% dropout rate and 53.7% chronic absenteeism, near state averages, while Marshall posts 63.1% graduation, 9.7% dropout and 85.0% chronic absenteeism. Two caveats: Fuller's student-teacher ratio is 60.8 against 14.0–16.1 at the MPS schools, and its spending figure is from 2020–21 while the others are from 2024–25, so those comparisons are not apples-to-apples. Chronic absenteeism is a problem everywhere: every school is above the Milwaukee district rate of 46.2% and the state's 17.3%, averaging about 65.4% here. Free/reduced lunch ranges from 78.95% at Fuller to 97.51% at Clemens Elementary, tying poverty to nearly every school in the ZIP.
Test scores are low almost everywhere. MPS schools spend roughly $20,392 to $23,610 per student, yet proficiency is mostly single digits or low teens. Marshall's 2025–26 results run from Social Studies 2.13% to ACT ELA 6.67%. Bright spots are isolated: Carson Academy hit 25% in 8th-grade math and social studies, Clemens held 4th-grade math at 17.39% in both years, Fifty-Third Street Elementary reached 30.77% in 8th-grade social studies in 2024–25, and Townsend reached 26.67% in 4th-grade social studies in 2025–26. Fifty-Third and Townsend also show many 0% math results, and all MPS schools rank near the bottom statewide.
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