Summary:
ZIP code 53530 contains one high school — Darlington High, serving grades 9–12 with 263 students in the small city of Darlington, Wisconsin, as part of the Darlington Community School District. Since it is the only high school in the area, there is no in-ZIP comparison to make, but its results stand out on their own.
The school’s rise in the state rankings is the headline. It moved from 284th of 431 schools (34th percentile, 2 stars) in 2023–2024, to 205th of 431 (52nd percentile, 3 stars) in 2024–2025, to 94th of 533 (82nd percentile, 4 stars) in 2025–2026. In 2025–2026, its 10th graders exceeded the Wisconsin average in all four tested subjects: Social Studies 55.17% vs. 48.25%, English Language Arts 63.79% vs. 48.47%, Mathematics 55.17% vs. 42.93%, and Science 51.72% vs. 43.20%. Year-over-year gains were largest in ELA (+14.58 points) and math (+15.49 points); math went from 3.05 points below the state in 2024–2025 to 12.24 points above it. Social Studies slipped slightly, from 57.14% to 55.17%, but remained well above state.
Outcomes are strong: a 96.8% graduation rate (state 92.0%), a 0.0% dropout rate (state 1.1%), and 0.8% chronic absenteeism (state 17.3%). The high school’s latest rating (82nd percentile, 4 stars) also tops its district’s overall standing (167th of 432, 61st percentile, 3 stars). For context, 41.06% of students receive free/reduced lunch, per-student spending is $18,270, and the student-teacher ratio is 11.6:1. Because only one school is covered here and the metrics come from different school years, treat this as a snapshot rather than a full comparison.
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