Rocketship Southside Community Prep, Milwaukee WI

Original Research by School Decision on Rocketship Southside Community Prep

Rocketship Southside Community Prep is a public charter school in Milwaukee serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of a small network of two charters operated by Rocketship Education Wisconsin Inc., a nonprofit charter management organization. The school sits on Cleveland Avenue in Milwaukee’s South Side, a neighborhood shaped by generations of Hispanic settlement and still one of the city’s denser residential areas.

The student body is overwhelmingly Hispanic, with a smaller share of Black students and very small numbers of white, Asian, and multiracial students. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, placing the school in a high-poverty context. The school is a regular elementary charter, not a magnet or alternative program. The district has grown in recent years, and publicly reported material from the network claims that Southside Community Prep ranked among the top three schools in its neighborhood for math and English language arts achievement on the NWEA MAP assessment. The same source reported substantial year-over-year academic growth for the district’s students.

On the Wisconsin Forward Exam, proficiency rates varied by grade and subject. In math, roughly two-fifths of third graders scored proficient or above, a slightly larger share of fourth graders did, and roughly one-third of fifth graders reached that bar. In English language arts, the pattern was lower: about one-quarter of third graders, three-tenths of fourth graders, and just over one-quarter of fifth graders were proficient. In science, tested only in fourth grade, roughly one-quarter of students were proficient. In social studies, also tested in fourth grade, the rate was higher, near two-fifths. Across all tested grades and subjects, the school’s composite proficiency index sits below the midpoint when compared with other district-level entities in Milwaukee County. A parent may want to ask what the school is doing to raise proficiency in reading and math in the upper elementary grades, particularly given that the network’s public claims about high performance refer to growth measures on a different assessment.

Because the school serves only early and elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The school’s chronic absenteeism rate was not available in the data provided. The network operates two Milwaukee campuses, and a publicly reported description of the other campus noted new facilities including a gym and family laundry room. No similar facility description was provided for Southside Community Prep.

The housing market in the 53215 ZIP code shows home values and rents that are below the state and national averages, typical for an urban neighborhood with a high concentration of poverty. Economic conditions in Milwaukee broadly include a shrinking city population alongside a growing regional economy anchored by large corporate headquarters and healthcare systems. The neighborhoods surrounding the school are walkable in parts, though many outlying areas remain car-dependent.

For a family considering this school, the key considerations are the charter model, which operates independently from Milwaukee Public Schools, the heavily Hispanic and low-income student population, and the mixed academic results on the state exam. The network’s self-reported growth data is a separate story from state proficiency levels, and a parent would want to understand both. The school fits best for a family that values a small, neighborhood-based charter with a strong network affiliation and is prepared to engage directly with the school about how it is working to lift reading and math results in the tested grades.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 37% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 13 pts below state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 45% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 537%

School 37% · District 33% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 327%

School 27% · District 27%

▼ 26 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 26% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 22 pts below state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 527%

School 27% · District 23% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Science

Grade 428%

School 28% · District 21% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 437%

School 37% · District 33% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

This schoolRocketship Education Wisconsin Inc, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 3Lower-income20%Higher-income44%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income60%37 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income14%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income43%Higher-income45%2 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income47%Higher-income46%1 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income29%10 pp gap