Original Research by School Decision on Early Childhood
Early Childhood is a special education school within the Cedarburg School District that serves students in pre-kindergarten only. The school is exclusively focused on the earliest stage of formal schooling, and its status as a special education school indicates that it is designed to serve young children with identified disabilities, providing specialized instruction and support before they enter kindergarten. Because of this narrow grade band and specialized mission, the school does not generate the standard academic performance metrics that are typically used to evaluate K-12 schools. State testing data was not available for this school, and that absence is consistent with its nature as a pre-kindergarten program serving very young children who are not part of the state’s testing system. There is no graduation rate, chronic absenteeism rate, or proficiency index to report for the same reason.
The school’s enrollment is very small and entirely composed of children who are white. Data on whether students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, on students with Individualized Education Programs, and on English learners were not available, so the full picture of the student body’s economic and support needs is not clear from the record. The small size means the school likely operates with a high staff-to-student ratio, a common feature of early childhood special education settings, though precise staffing figures were not provided.
The parent district, Cedarburg School District, has made several recent changes that will affect families regardless of which school their child attends. Voters in late 2024 approved both an operational referendum and a capital referendum, providing the district with additional funding for day-to-day operations and for facility improvements across all schools, including safety, accessibility, and classroom renovations. Passing both referendums indicates notable community support for school funding. The district also shifted its literacy curriculum starting in the 2023-2024 school year, adopting a structured literacy approach grounded in the science of reading. This change affects how all students in the district learn to read from the earliest grades. Property tax rates for the district have recently decreased because of growth in assessed property values, a trend that offsets some of the tax impact from the new referendum spending.
Cedarburg, the community that houses this school, is a suburban city about a short drive north of Milwaukee. It began as a German-immigrant mill town and saw rapid residential growth after World War II, giving it a character that blends historic downtown charm with suburban neighborhoods. The downtown district along Washington Avenue is a commercial and tourist destination, with preserved limestone buildings housing shops, galleries, restaurants, and cultural venues. Street life is heavily event-driven, with festivals throughout the year that draw large crowds. Civic and cultural anchors such as the Cedarburg Cultural Center and the Cedarburg Art Museum are downtown, while the district’s schools sit on separate campuses spread across residential neighborhoods. The city’s economy is supported by tourism and hospitality, and the school district itself is a notable local employer.
For a parent considering Early Childhood, the key takeaway is that this is a highly specialized program. It is not a general-education preschool available to all local families; it is expressly a special education school for pre-kindergarten children. The school’s small enrollment and targeted mission mean that results and metrics used to evaluate mainstream K-12 schools do not apply. A parent whose child has an identified disability and is entering the school system at the pre-kindergarten level would need to contact the district directly to understand the referral process, the specific services offered, and how the program connects to the elementary school their child would attend afterward. Because the school serves only pre-kindergarten, it is likely embedded in a broader district system of early childhood special education evaluations and placements. A parent looking for a standard preschool for a typically developing child would need to look elsewhere.
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