Original Research by School Decision on Ellsworth High
Ellsworth High School serves grades nine through twelve as a regular public school in the Ellsworth Community School District. The school is situated in the village of Ellsworth, the county seat of Pierce County, a small town that describes itself as the cheese curd capital of Wisconsin. The village sits atop a steep hill and is highly car-dependent, with a downtown built around the historic courthouse. Ellsworth is slowly becoming part of the Twin Cities metro area, and the surrounding landscape is rolling farmland, forests, and bluffs.
The student body of roughly 500 to 600 is predominantly white, with a small share of Hispanic students and even smaller shares of students who are Asian, Black, or of two or more races. About a quarter to a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, putting the school in a middle ground for economic need within the county. Data on students with Individualized Education Programs and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the special education and language support programs it offers.
The school’s academic performance data is a notable gap. State testing results were not available in the data provided, so it is not possible to say how Ellsworth High students perform on state assessments in reading, math, or science relative to other schools in Pierce County or across Wisconsin. Without this information, a parent cannot use proficiency rates to evaluate the school’s core academic instruction, and this metric is something to pursue with the school or the district office. The four-year graduation rate was also absent from the data, which is another key measure a parent would want to see. Because the school serves only high school grades, these gaps do not stem from an untested grade band; they simply reflect missing information in this report. The data that was provided included no chronic absenteeism rate or discipline data either.
A parent researching Ellsworth High will find two recent district referendums that speak to the community’s investment in its schools. In 2022, residents approved a nonrecurring operational referendum that adds recurring funding for district programs and operations for four years, a decision that directly affects local property taxes. In 2024, the district sought a bond referendum for facility upgrades at the middle and high schools, with plans that include addressing aging infrastructure, creating new collaborative spaces, upgrading science labs, expanding career and technical education areas, remodeling the athletic lobby, and building a new fitness room. If that bond passed, Ellsworth High would see visible changes to its career and technical education spaces, which is a strong signal that the district is prioritizing hands-on pathways alongside traditional academics.
The school’s location places it within a county of a handful of districts. The data showed no comparison metrics that could be applied, so there is no positioning of Ellsworth High relative to other high schools in Pierce County on proficiency, graduation, or attendance. Given the missing state testing and graduation data, a family considering Ellsworth High should treat this as a school where the public academic record is incomplete. The school website, the Ellsworth Community School District central office, and conversations with the principal would be essential next steps to get a full picture of what the school offers and how its students perform.
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