Macarthur Elementary, Germantown WI

Original Research by School Decision on Macarthur Elementary

MacArthur Elementary is a regular public school in Germantown, Wisconsin, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. It is one of four elementary schools in the Germantown School District, and like its district counterparts, it sits within a large, dispersed village that grew by annexing former hamlets and farmland. The village’s own comprehensive plan describes it as having a “rural and suburban” character, and that mix shows in the school’s setting: a sprawling residential area largely dependent on cars, with no single walkable downtown core. The housing market here is tight, with very low vacancy rates, and the area has seen steady suburban growth along the I-41 corridor.

The school’s enrollment size is moderate for an elementary school serving its grade band. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that is common for a community with above-median-area incomes. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Black, Asian, Hispanic, and multiracial students. Because the school serves only through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, and discipline or attendance data were not available in the source material.

On state assessments, MacArthur’s performance varies by subject and grade level, and a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand the patterns. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above was strong in third grade, dipped in fourth grade, and then improved again in fifth grade. In English language arts, the pattern was similar: third graders performed at a higher level, while fourth and fifth graders were lower, with both grades near each other. Science results for fourth graders were lower than the school’s own reading and math marks, though participation in that test was full. Social studies, tested only in fourth grade, was the standout subject, with a very large majority of students scoring proficient or above. Overall, when the school’s tested grades and subjects are combined into a single proficiency index, it sits below the midpoint among districts in Washington County, a comparison set that includes seven other districts. The county’s range shows that higher and lower proficiency levels exist among nearby districts, and MacArthur lands in the middle portion of that spread.

The district itself has an elementary-through-high-school structure. Publicly reported information about recent district-level changes was thin; an enrollment study was mentioned on the district website, but specific outcomes could not be confirmed from available search results. That leaves families to rely on the school’s current academic results and the broader community context when sizing up the fit.

For a family considering this school, the picture is one of a suburban elementary school in a growing, relatively affluent village where housing is expensive and turnover is low. Academic performance is uneven across grades and subjects, with third grade and social studies as clear bright spots, while fourth-grade math and reading and fourth-grade science are areas where the outcomes are softer. The school’s moderate size and the district’s distribution of four elementaries across a wide geographic area mean that a family’s experience may be shaped as much by which neighborhood they live in as by the school itself.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 378%

School 78% · District 73% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 78% · ▼ 11 pts below district

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

Grade 570%

School 70% · District 71% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 19 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 69% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 73% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 69% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Science

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 66% · ▼ 9 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 485%

School 85% · District 84% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

This schoolGermantown 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-income55%Higher-income83%28 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income71%21 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income74%37 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income88%38 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income75%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income38%Higher-income80%43 pp gap