The top reported proficiency rate is 42% in Math. The lowest is 16% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Hayfield Elementary
Hayfield Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through fifth grade in Hayfield, a small rural community in Dodge County, about halfway between Austin and Rochester. The school is a regular public school, part of the Hayfield Public School District. With roughly 270 students across seven grade levels, it is a modest-sized elementary school where class groups range from single figures in pre-K to around fifty in kindergarten, tapering to just over thirty in fifth grade. The student body is predominantly white, with a small share of Hispanic students and a smaller number of Black students. A substantial portion of the student population qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch.
State test results for the most recent year show a mixed picture. In math, the share of students meeting the state standard varied markedly by grade: third graders had a higher proficiency rate than fourth graders, and fifth graders were lower still. In English language arts, third and fourth graders posted lower proficiency rates, while fifth graders reached the highest rate of the three tested grades. Fifth graders also took the state science exam, and a relatively small portion of them met the standard. Because only a single year of school-level testing data is available, it is not possible to assess whether these results represent a trend or a one-year snapshot.
Compared with other school districts in Dodge County, Hayfield Elementary’s overall proficiency rate across tested subjects and grades sits below the midpoint. That comparison covers the elementary results of the few districts that reported data in the county, placing the school toward the lower end of this small cohort.
The school itself is integrated into the town rather than set apart on a separate campus, given Hayfield’s compact layout. The broader community is a very small town with a rural built environment; main highways run through it, and there are two public parks and a public pool. Car dependence is the norm. The town has a handful of churches and over forty local businesses, but no public library is mentioned in publicly available materials. The school district itself is a significant local employer. Housing costs in the area are moderate compared with state and national benchmarks, and home values have risen in recent years, though the town’s population has remained essentially flat over the past decade.
Because Hayfield Elementary serves only early and middle elementary grades, it does not report a graduation rate, chronic absenteeism data, or high school course offerings — those belong to the secondary school in the same district. Families looking ahead to middle and high school would need to consider the district’s upper-level programs, about which this profile contains no direct information.
For parents considering the school, the takeaway is straightforward. Hayfield Elementary is a small, rural public school with a largely homogeneous student body and a notable share of families from lower-income backgrounds. State testing results show modest attainment, especially in reading at the lower grades and in fifth-grade science, and the school’s proficiency measures place it below the midpoint of its county peers. A parent may want to talk with the school about instructional supports and how the school addresses areas where performance is softer. The community offers a small-town setting with limited commercial and civic amenities, stable if not growing, and housing that remains relatively affordable compared to the state as a whole.
See more original research from School Decision →