Wisconsin Connections Academy, Appleton WI

Original Research by School Decision on Wisconsin Connections Academy

Wisconsin Connections Academy is a public, full-time virtual charter school authorized by the Appleton Area School District. It serves students from four-year-old kindergarten through twelfth grade and is operated by the for-profit company Connections Education, part of Pearson. Its administrative office is in Appleton, but the school has no physical classrooms; students learn from home with state-licensed teachers who deliver instruction online. This makes it a fundamentally different kind of school from the brick-and-mortar options in the Appleton area.

Families who enroll here are choosing a fully remote structure, not a building-based school. This model fits households that want a high degree of flexibility, including families of traveling or shift-working parents, students who need to work during the day, or children who have experienced difficulty in a traditional school environment. The curriculum is provided by the school and students must complete a state-mandated number of instructional hours. Parents or other learning coaches are expected to supervise daily work, a role that is more hands-on than in a traditional setting.

The student body is diverse in race and ethnicity but leans predominantly White, with modest shares of Hispanic, Black, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial majority of the students come from low-income households, which is a higher share than is typical for the district as a whole. The school's enrollment totals in the low hundreds across all grades, with the largest numbers in the middle and high school years.

State testing results for the most recent school year show a clear pattern. In English language arts, proficiency rates at most grade levels fell into a range that was competitive with state averages, with third grade and fifth grade posting stronger showings. Mathematics results were weaker across the board, with most grade levels falling well below state averages. Science and social studies results for fourth and eighth grade also landed below state averages, though eighth grade social studies was a relative bright spot. Taken together, the school's combined proficiency index places it in the lowest quarter among districts in Outagamie County. This is a soft spot a parent considering this school would want to look into further with the school, particularly around how math instruction and assessment work in the virtual setting.

Because this is a virtual school, the typical measures of school climate such as chronic absenteeism data and high school graduation rate were not available in the data provided. The school does not have a physical campus or after-school activities in the traditional sense, so the community experience is largely online. Students may participate in district-level extracurriculars through their resident district if local policies allow, but that is something a family would need to verify with their home district.

The housing and community context is that of the Appleton area, not a particular neighborhood. Appleton is a mid-sized city with a walkable downtown, a well-diversified economy anchored by healthcare and manufacturing, and a cultural scene centered on College Avenue. Housing values in the area have risen moderately, and the rental market has seen similar upward movement. The broader Fox Cities region offers amenities, but a family choosing Connections Academy is essentially location-independent within Wisconsin; they can live anywhere in the state and still enroll.

No curriculum changes, referendums, or boundary shifts were found in the available search for the Appleton Area School District that would directly affect this virtual charter. The school operates under a charter authorized by that district but its day-to-day programming has not been the subject of recent public attention in the results reviewed.

In sum, Wisconsin Connections Academy offers a fully virtual public education for families committed to learning from home. Academically, the school shows uneven results, with English language arts as a relative strength and math as an area where proficiency lags noticeably behind state averages. The school's financial eligibility profile indicates a high-needs population. For a parent weighing the option, the key question is whether the flexibility of the virtual format and the school's specific instructional model are the right fit for their child's learning style and for the family's ability to provide consistent daily support.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

80-84%Cohort of 81 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

528 schools plotted. 25 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 54% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 53% · ▼ 16 pts below district

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

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 54% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 49% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 740%

School 40% · District 53% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 32 pts below county median

Grade 828%

School 28% · District 51% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 23 pts below state median · ▼ 36 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 50% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 50% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 16 pts below state median · ▼ 19 pts below county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 53% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 659%

School 59% · District 54% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 754%

School 54% · District 54% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 851%

School 51% · District 50% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 49% · ▼ 17 pts below district

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

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 49% · ▼ 13 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 60% · ▼ 24 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 62% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

This schoolAppleton Area School District, 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-income57%Higher-income83%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income56%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income64%Higher-income63%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income80%33 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income45%Higher-income61%16 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income41%Higher-income58%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income48%Higher-income83%36 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income56%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income36%Higher-income63%26 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income53%Higher-income50%3 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income43%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income18%Higher-income36%17 pp gap