Highland View Elementary, Greendale WI

Original Research by School Decision on Highland View Elementary

Highland View Elementary is one of three public elementary schools serving the village of Greendale, a planned Greenbelt community in Milwaukee County. The school serves students in prekindergarten through fifth grade and is part of the Greendale School District.

Academically, Highland View produces results that stand out among its peers. Across tested subjects and grade levels, the school's overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile relative to other districts in Milwaukee County, a wide field that includes the city of Milwaukee and its surrounding suburbs. In reading and math, a large majority of students in each tested grade scored at the proficient or advanced level on the Wisconsin Forward Exam. Fourth-grade performance was especially strong, with students showing high proficiency rates in both English language arts and mathematics. Science and social studies results for fourth graders were similarly robust. These numbers indicate a school where most students meet or exceed grade-level expectations year after year.

The school community is primarily white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and smaller shares of Asian, Black, multiracial, and American Indian students. About one-third of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that is moderate for a public elementary school in this region. The school's enrollment of roughly 400 students across seven grade levels gives it a size that is large enough to support grade-level teams and specialist teachers while still being small enough that families often find it easy to be involved.

Greendale itself shapes the experience of attending Highland View in direct ways. The village was built during the Great Depression as a planned community based on the British garden city movement, with a design that placed housing, schools, shops, and parks within walking distance of one another. Highland View sits within this walkable fabric. The village's historic downtown, with its independent shops and restaurants, is nearby. The Milwaukee County Oak Leaf Trail system runs through Greendale, offering a paved route for walking and biking that connects to the broader county system. Families moving to Greendale will find a village with a strong sense of place, a National Historic Landmark district at its core, and a housing market that has seen home values rise in recent years along with demand.

The Greendale School District runs one high school, one middle school, and the three elementary schools. No major recent changes to district operations or programming were publicly reported beyond routine planning and tax adjustments, so the landscape for a family entering Highland View is likely to resemble what current families experience. The school does not offer any special themes or magnet programs; it operates as a regular neighborhood elementary school.

Because the school serves only grades PK through five, there is no graduation rate data to report, and no high-school-level metrics such as AP participation or dual-credit enrollment apply here. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available. A parent looking for information on special education staffing ratios or English learner support would need to ask the school directly, as those counts were not included in the available records.

For a family considering Greendale, Highland View presents a straightforward proposition: a consistently well-performing neighborhood elementary school in a walkable, historically minded suburb with strong state test results and a student body that reflects the village's demographic makeup. The school fits a family seeking solid academics in a community-oriented setting where the school is part of the neighborhood rather than isolated on a campus.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 76% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

Grade 479%

School 79% · District 82% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 25 pts above state median · ▲ 55 pts above county median

Grade 566%

School 66% · District 70% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 43 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 376%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 49 pts above county median

Grade 474%

School 74% · District 75% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 49 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 69% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 68% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 50 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 481%

School 81% · District 80% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 16 pts above state median · ▲ 42 pts above county median

This schoolGreendale 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-income40%Higher-income84%44 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income78%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income52%Higher-income81%29 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income30%Higher-income79%49 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income69%Higher-income84%15 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income77%31 pp gap