Maple Grove School, Athens WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Maple Grove School

Maple Grove School is a K-5 charter school within the Athens School District, set in the small, rural village of Athens in north-central Marathon County, Wisconsin. The village is an agricultural hub with a historic square at its center, and the school itself is one of the options families in the district may choose alongside the traditional Athens Elementary School. The school’s charter status offers parents an alternative public school pathway for their elementary-aged children, all within the same small district.

The student body is small, and the ethnic composition is predominantly white, with a very small share of students who are Hispanic or identify with two or more races. A substantial share of students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a notable level of economic diversity. Special population data, such as the count of students with Individualized Education Programs or English learners, was not available in the data reviewed.

Maple Grove School serves only kindergarten through fifth grade, so there is no graduation rate to report and no high school pathways such as Advanced Placement or career and technical education offerings. For a school at this grade band, the academic focus is on foundational skills in math, reading, science, and social studies. State testing results from the Wisconsin Forward Exam show a mixed picture. In math, proficiency rates were below average across the tested grades, with the third and fourth grade cohorts scoring at a lower level than the fifth grade cohort, which posted a notably stronger result. In English language arts, the school’s performance was more solid, with the fifth-grade cohort again showing a clear strength. Fourth-grade students took state assessments in science and social studies, and in both subjects the school posted strong results; the social studies score was particularly high. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, places it in the bottom quartile relative to other Marathon County school districts. This is largely driven by the weaker math scores in the lower elementary grades. A parent may want to ask how the school supports math instruction, particularly in the early primary years, given the pattern of rising proficiency by fifth grade.

The district has experienced a period of enrollment growth, which is notable after a long-term decline. This surge could mean fuller classrooms and may influence how resources are allocated at Maple Grove. The school operates as a charter within the district, which often implies some degree of autonomy in curriculum or instruction, though specific details about the school’s educational model or program focus were not found in the available data. The community of Athens itself has seen a slight population decline over the past two decades, but home values and household incomes have risen, suggesting a stable if not growing local economy, with agriculture and a small industrial park as the economic base.

For a family weighing options in this rural corner of Marathon County, Maple Grove School provides a public charter choice in a small, close-knit school setting. The standout points are the strong fifth-grade performance in both reading and math, along with excellent fourth-grade science and social studies results. The weaker early-grade math scores are a soft spot that may merit a conversation with the school. The school’s charter status and the district’s recent enrollment growth are both contextual factors that could shape the experience, but without more detail on the school’s specific program, a family interested in a distinct pedagogical approach would need to reach out to the school directly.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 332%

School 32% · District 39% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▼ 24 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 30% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 21 pts below state median · ▼ 21 pts below county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 57% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 46% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 39% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 50% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Science

Grade 460%

School 60% · District 49% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 76% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 2 pts above state median · even with county median

This schoolAthens 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-income42%Higher-income60%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income44%6 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income78%45 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income30%3 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income22%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income78%61 pp gap