Summary:
ZIP code 53960 contains just one elementary school — Rio Elementary, a PK–5 school in Rio, WI serving 169 students as part of the Rio Community School District — so families here have a single public elementary option rather than a set of schools to compare. Because there is only one school, the most useful comparisons are Rio Elementary against its own past years, its district, and Wisconsin state averages across rank history, attendance, Forward Exam proficiency, spending, and staffing.
The school's clearest strengths are outside-the-classroom measures and its science and social studies results. Chronic absenteeism in 2024–25 was 2.1%, well below the district's 8.7% and the state's 17.3%. In 2025–26, fourth graders scored 78.95% proficient in social studies and 68.42% in science, both far above state averages, following even stronger 2024–25 results in those subjects. English language arts was strong in 2024–25, with all three tested grades at or above the state average. Resources look favorable too: a student-teacher ratio of 11.7 and per-student spending of $19,354, with 37.28% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch.
Academic results beyond science and social studies are uneven and have slipped. Rio Elementary's state rank fell from the 67th percentile in 2023–24 to the 63rd in 2024–25 and the 44th in 2025–26, dropping from three stars to two. In 2025–26, third grade ELA was 28% proficient against a state rate of 52.08%, and fourth grade math was 36.84% against 52.87% — the weakest results in the data. The district itself ranks 307 of 432, at the 29th percentile with one star, so the elementary still outranks the district overall. With only 169 students, a few students can shift a percentage by several points, so single-year swings should be read with caution.
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