Iowa-grant Elementary/middle, Livingston WI

Original Research by School Decision on Iowa-grant Elementary/middle

Iowa-Grant Elementary/Middle is a regular public school serving students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in the rural village of Livingston, Wisconsin, part of the Iowa-Grant School District. The school sits at the intersection of County Highway E and State Highway 80, roughly midway between Platteville and Fennimore, in a setting that is unmistakably agricultural and small-town residential. Livingston itself is a quiet village with a small commercial footprint: a popcorn company, a supper club, a co-op oil company, a feed and grain operation, and a community bank. An industrial park with available building sites sits on the east edge of the village. The community's major employers are all small businesses, each with fewer than fifty employees, and the workforce is concentrated in agriculture-linked services and local education. Four public parks provide recreational space. The village has a volunteer fire department and a post office, but no public library or transit system. Higher education anchors sit outside the village: the University of Wisconsin–Platteville is about a thirteen-mile drive, and Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in Fennimore is about seventeen miles away. Population has been relatively stable over the decades, with a modest increase in recent years. The village has capacity for growth, with municipal infrastructure operating below capacity and building sites available for development.

The school enrolls a student body that is largely white, with a small Hispanic share and an even smaller share of Black and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic mix of the surrounding rural area. The school’s grade span means that students move on to high school elsewhere after eighth grade; there is no graduation rate to report because the school does not serve those grades.

State assessment results from the most recent testing year show a notable range of performance across subjects and grades. In mathematics, the school posts strong results in the upper elementary and middle grades. Fifth-grade math proficiency is very high, and seventh-grade math also stands out at a strong level. Eighth-grade math is similarly solid. Grades three, four, and six show more moderate proficiency rates. English language arts results are more uneven. Eighth-grade ELA is the strongest, reaching a level where a clear majority of students meet proficiency. Other tested grades in ELA show lower proficiency rates, with several hovering around the halfway mark or below, particularly in grades three, four, and six. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand patterns in early literacy across the grades. Science is tested in fourth and eighth grades; fourth-grade science proficiency is moderate, while eighth-grade science is notably stronger, at a level similar to eighth-grade ELA. Social studies results, tested in fourth and eighth grades, are also solid, with eighth-grade social studies proficiency being particularly high.

When compared against other districts in Iowa County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits above the midpoint of the county’s five districts. This positions the school competitively within its rural county context, though it is not at the very top. The housing market in the area reflects the broader trend of rising values nationally, with a year-over-year increase that outpaces the national benchmark, though local values remain below the state benchmark. The economic context includes a median household income near the national figure and a 30-year fixed mortgage rate that has fluctuated in the mid-six percent range in recent months.

The district itself has not seen major recent changes that would be directly relevant for parents; what financial activity exists appears routine and lacks lasting impact on day-to-day school operations. For families considering this school, the picture is one of a rural elementary and middle school with strong math results in the upper grades and a mix of outcomes in English language arts, set in a small, stable community where agricultural life and local businesses anchor daily experience.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 348%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 53%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 590%

School 90% · District 90%

▲ 39 pts above state median

Grade 656%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 2 pts above state median

Grade 783%

School 83% · District 83%

▲ 29 pts above state median

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 25 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 342%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 11 pts below state median

Grade 440%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 13 pts below state median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 51%

even with state median

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 746%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 11 pts above state median

Science

Grade 442%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 880%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 16 pts above state median

This schoolIowa-Grant 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-income26%Higher-income56%30 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income28%Higher-income50%22 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income44%Higher-income56%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income36%Higher-income60%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income35%Higher-income52%16 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income74%34 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income35%Higher-income60%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income39%Higher-income65%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income75%Higher-income100%25 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income43%Higher-income80%37 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income82%Higher-income84%2 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income73%Higher-income77%4 pp gap