Summary:
ZIP code 53597 (Waunakee, Wisconsin) is served by two middle-level schools — Waunakee Intermediate for grades 5–6 and Waunakee Middle for grades 7–8 — both part of the Waunakee Community School District, together enrolling 1,328 students in a district ranked in the 94th percentile statewide with five stars.
The two schools don't overlap; they form one continuous 5–8 pipeline, so families move from one to the other. Both perform well above the state in every subject tested, with average proficiency roughly 23–25 points higher than Wisconsin. They stand out on different things. Waunakee Middle is the school on the rise: its state rank climbed from 49 to 29 over three years, reaching the 95th percentile, and all six of its tested subjects improved, averaging +3.82 points. Waunakee Intermediate holds the single highest score in the data — 6th grade English language arts at 84.38%, about 29 points above the state — along with the lower free/reduced lunch rate (9.53% vs. 12.59%).
The main item to watch is 6th grade math at Waunakee Intermediate, which fell 5.82 points — the only decline recorded — from its strongest score a year ago to its weakest now. Chronic absenteeism is low at both schools relative to the state's 17.3%, though both sit above the district average of 11.6% (12.9% at Middle, 14.8% at Intermediate). Waunakee Middle reports a 0.0% dropout rate, spends $17,133 per student with a 10.1 student-teacher ratio, versus $16,651 and 11.6 at Intermediate. Overall, this is a consistently high-performing, top-5%-of-state middle-level system.
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