Summary:
ZIP code 53533 (Dodgeville, Wisconsin) contains exactly one middle school: Dodgeville Middle, serving grades 5–8 with 283 students in the Dodgeville School District. With only one school in the area, there is no local peer to compare against, so the meaningful benchmarks are the school against Wisconsin statewide averages and against its own recent history. Notably, in every test-score record the school's results are identical to the district's reported results, meaning Dodgeville Middle effectively is the district's middle-grades outcome.
The clearest strengths are attendance and the younger grades. Chronic absenteeism is 3.7%, less than a quarter of the 17.3% state rate, and the dropout rate is 0.0%. Class sizes are small (a 12.1-to-1 student-teacher ratio) and per-student spending is $14,995, with 32.86% of students eligible for free or reduced lunch. Sixth grade is the standout: ELA proficiency is 58% (state 54.95%) and math is 60% (state 53.6%), the school's highest marks and largest margins over the state in both subjects. Science (53.75% vs. 51.86% state) and Social Studies (65% vs. 64.63%) were also at or above state, and six of ten same-grade assessments improved year-over-year.
The concern is upper-grade mathematics. Seventh-grade math is 44.87% and eighth-grade math is 43.75%, roughly 10 points below state in each, following a similar pattern the prior year. Grade 7 is the softest year overall, trailing the state in both ELA (46.15% vs. 55.33%) and math. Consistent with that, the school's rating fell from 4 stars and the 70th percentile in 2023-2024 to 2 stars in each of the last two years — even as its percentile recovered from 38 to 44. The central puzzle is why a school with excellent attendance, small classes, and strong per-student investment still trails the state in upper-grade math. Cohort trends are encouraging, though: the younger groups are the strongest in the building.
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