Best Public Schools in Zip Code 53916

ZIP code 53916 covers Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and contains six public schools — one high school, one middle school, and four elementary schools — all operated by the Beaver Dam Unified School District, with a combined enrollment of roughly 2,790 students. Beaver Dam High serves grades 9–12 with 1,031 students, Beaver Dam Middle serves grades 6–8 with 633, and the four elementaries — Prairie View (337), Jefferson (328), Washington (260), and Lincoln (201) — serve the earliest grades. There are no alternative schools in this ZIP. The district overall ranks 180 of 432 Wisconsin districts, at the 58th percentile with 3 stars.

The elementary tier is where this district shines. Prairie View is the academic standout, ranked 89 of 1,039 elementary schools (91st percentile, 5 stars) and in the top 10% for three straight years; its 3rd-grade ELA (78.57%), 5th-grade math (80.36%), and chronic absenteeism (4.8%, lowest in the ZIP) all beat district and state. Washington is the efficiency standout — 84th percentile and 4 stars, with the highest student-teacher ratio (16.4) and a below-median per-pupil spend, yet 4th-grade math near 80% after 94.44% the prior year. Lincoln is the most improved, climbing from the 34th to the 57th percentile. Same district, same tests, same grade: 5th-grade math runs from 80.36% at Prairie View to 42.55% at Jefferson — about a 38-point spread — showing how much the individual building matters.

The two secondary schools are the drag on the district average. Beaver Dam Middle ranks at the 37th percentile with math above state at all three grade levels, but 8th-grade science at 32.57% versus 51.86% state and social studies at 46.86% versus 64.63% — persistent gaps, not a one-year blip. Beaver Dam High pairs strong completion numbers (96.4% graduation, 1.0% dropout) with below-state ELA and math, and ranks 46th percentile. Notable across all six schools: attendance tracks performance closely, rising from about 7.65% absenteeism in the elementaries to 17.5% at the middle and 20.3% at the high school, while the four schools under 11% are the four strongest. Spending and class size do not predict results here — Lincoln has the ZIP's highest per-pupil spend ($17,914) and smallest classes yet ranks near the bottom, while Washington does the opposite.