Cooper Montessori, Burlington WI

Original Research by School Decision on Cooper Montessori

Cooper Montessori is a public school serving prekindergarten through sixth grade in Burlington, Wisconsin. It operates as a regular public school within the Burlington Area School District and offers a Montessori approach, which emphasizes self-directed learning, mixed-age classrooms, and hands-on materials. The school is small, with enrollment in the lower hundreds, and its student body is predominantly White, with a modest share of students from Hispanic, Asian, Black, and multiracial backgrounds. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a lower rate than many public schools in the region.

On state assessments, which students take from third grade onward, performance varies by grade and subject. In English language arts, the proportion of students reaching proficiency is high across most tested grades. The strongest result comes in sixth grade, where nearly every student scored at or above the proficiency bar. Third and fourth grade also show strong proficiency, while fifth grade, though a step lower, still has a solid majority meeting the mark.

Math results tell a more uneven story. Third and sixth graders post strong proficiency rates, with most students meeting or exceeding standards. Fourth grade sits at roughly half proficient. Fifth grade math is the notable soft spot: a quarter of students reached proficiency, which is a sharp drop from other grades. The gap may reflect a cohort effect or the challenge of a particular year’s curriculum. A parent choosing Cooper Montessori may want to ask the school how it supports math learning in fifth grade and how the Montessori approach addresses that transition.

In fourth grade, where science and social studies are tested, the school performs well. Social studies shows strong proficiency, and science also has a solid majority of students scoring proficient.

The school’s overall proficiency, averaging across all tested subjects and grades, places it above the midpoint among school districts in Racine County. That positions Cooper Montessori alongside schools where students are generally performing well relative to local peers.

No data is available on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, or course access. Because the school serves only through sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to consider. These gaps are common for a mid-sized elementary school; the absence of that information does not signal a problem, but it means families may want to ask the district for details on class size, teacher retention, and student engagement.

Burlington, where the school is located, is a small city midway between Milwaukee and Chicago. It has a mix of residential neighborhoods, a historic downtown with shops and restaurants, and two large business parks. The Fox River runs through the city, and a Riverwalk provides walking and biking paths. The city has been investing in its downtown, including a bypass that reduced traffic and made the historic core more pedestrian-friendly. Housing values have risen, and the city reports low vacancy rates, reflecting demand from young professionals and families. The Burlington Area School District operates several elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school, as well as a campus of Gateway Technical College.

Cooper Montessori fits a family seeking a public Montessori program in a growing small city. The academic picture is generally strong, with especially high performance in reading and in upper-grade math and ELA, though fifth grade math gives some reason for a closer look. The school’s demographic profile is less diverse than the county’s overall, and its share of low-income students is modest. Families who value the Montessori philosophy and want a neighborhood school in a community that is actively developing its downtown and infrastructure will find this a natural option.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 380%

School 80% · District 61% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 36 pts above county median

Grade 452%

School 52% · District 71% · ▼ 19 pts below district

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

Grade 525%

School 25% · District 48% · ▼ 23 pts below district

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

Grade 671%

School 71% · District 66% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 57% · ▲ 19 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 469%

School 69% · District 65% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 51% · ▲ 12 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 694%

School 94% · District 67% · ▲ 27 pts above district

▲ 41 pts above state median · ▲ 44 pts above county median

Science

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 65%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 21 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 483%

School 83% · District 73% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

This schoolBurlington 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 4Lower-income33%Higher-income78%45 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income80%47 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income17%Higher-income61%44 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income17%Higher-income30%13 pp gap