Summary:
ZIP code 54981 covers Waupaca, Wisconsin, and its four public schools — two elementary, one middle, and one high school serving students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade — all part of the Waupaca School District. Together they enroll about 1,910 students. The district overall ranks 183rd of 432 districts statewide (58th percentile, 3 stars), but that average masks a wide spread between its individual schools.
The standout is Chain Exploration Center, a PK–8 school and the only 4-star school in the ZIP. It has ranked in the top 20% of elementary schools statewide for three straight years (78th, then 82nd, then 80th percentile), and it posts the lowest chronic absenteeism in the area at 2.2% — roughly one-eighth of the state's 17.3%. It also leads on test scores, beating the state by wide margins, such as 8th grade Science at 90.91% versus 50.04% statewide. At the other end of the age range, Waupaca High delivers the strongest completion numbers: a 95.7% graduation rate and a 0.6% dropout rate, both better than the state, and it now scores above the state average in all four tested subjects.
Families should also know about two schools trending the wrong way. Waupaca Learning Center Elementary is the only school rated 2 stars in all three years, and its percentile has fallen from 44th to 35th; it trails the state in five of its six tested subjects and trails Chain on all six directly comparable grade-level results. Waupaca Middle has declined three years running (65th, then 58th, then 49th percentile). One shared strength: every school in the ZIP beats the state's 17.3% chronic absenteeism rate, for a ZIP average of 9.4%.
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