Summary:
ZIP code 54004 is home to exactly one middle school: Clayton Middle, located at 236 Polk Ave W in the small community of Clayton, Wisconsin. It serves grades 5–8 with an enrollment of just 46 students and belongs to Clayton School District. Since it is the only middle school in the area, there is no local peer to compare it against — the most useful benchmark is how it performs relative to Wisconsin as a whole.
Clayton Middle has been on a clear upward trend. Its statewide rank rose from 402nd of 641 schools in 2023–2024 to 212th of 643 in 2025–2026, moving from the 37th to the 67th percentile and from 2 stars to 3 stars. Eighth grade is the standout: in 2025–2026, proficiency exceeded the state in English language arts (66.67% vs. 54.38%), math (66.67% vs. 53.67%), science (66.67% vs. 51.86%) and social studies (83.33% vs. 64.63%). Seventh grade also beat the state in both ELA and math, and fifth-grade math reached 64.29% against the state's 51.81%. The main weak spot is sixth-grade math, at 36.84% compared with the state's 53.60% — a sharp drop from 61.54% the prior year. With grade sizes this small, one cohort can swing results dramatically.
Beyond test scores, Clayton Middle reported a 0.0% dropout rate for 2024–2025, better than the state's 1.1%, and chronic absenteeism of 15.6% — lower than Wisconsin's 17.3% but higher than the district's 12.4%. The school spends $19,351 per student with a 10.9:1 student-teacher ratio, and 52.17% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Overall, families will find a small school that outperforms the state in most subjects and is steadily improving, with sixth-grade math the area to watch.
Thank you for your feedback!