Roosevelt Elementary, Janesville WI

Original Research by School Decision on Roosevelt Elementary

Roosevelt Elementary is a regular public school in Janesville, Wisconsin, serving students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Janesville School District. Located in a mid-sized city with a mix of manufacturing, commercial, and residential character, the school sits within a district that, based on available public reporting, showed no recent major changes or initiatives that would materially shift a family’s sense of the school’s direction.

The school’s enrollment is moderate for an elementary building. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and a still smaller share of students identifying as two or more races, Black, Asian, or American Indian. More than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that indicates a substantial share of families are working with modest incomes. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how it supports these groups.

On state assessments, Roosevelt produces results that, when averaged across tested subjects and grades, place it in the top quartile among elementary schools relative to other districts in Rock County. That is a strong position. In math, proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grade are consistently above the midpoint, with fourth grade showing the highest share of students meeting or exceeding expectations. In English language arts, third grade posts a solid rate, but the share proficient dips in fourth grade and drops further in fifth grade. That pattern of declining ELA performance as students move through the upper elementary grades is something a parent may want to discuss with the school, particularly around how reading and writing instruction shifts in the later years. Science, tested only in fourth grade, shows a strong result. Social studies, also tested in fourth grade, is notably high, with the vast majority of students reaching proficiency.

The housing context around the school reflects a broader market where home values and rents have both risen notably in the recent period, and where the estimated monthly mortgage cost is slightly above the typical rent. This matters for families considering a move into or within the attendance zone. Janesville itself is a city that has seen modest population growth and is recovering from the departure of large manufacturers, with a park system that is extensive and well-regarded, a downtown organized around a Town Square, and a civic life that includes both a two-year UW campus and a technical college. For a family looking at the elementary landscape, Roosevelt’s academic profile is one of clear strength in math and social studies, with a more uneven picture in reading that bears watching. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to examine. The school’s status as a regular public school means it follows the district’s standard curriculum and calendar; it is not a charter or magnet school. For a parent weighing options, the core question is whether the ELA dip in the later elementary years is a pattern the school is actively addressing, and how well the school’s supports match a child’s specific needs.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 373%

School 73% · District 63% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 55% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 574%

School 74% · District 59% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 372%

School 72% · District 59% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 54% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 57% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 48% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 26 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 484%

School 84% · District 65% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

This schoolJanesville 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-income63%Higher-income83%20 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income72%9 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income41%Higher-income85%44 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income63%Higher-income85%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income66%Higher-income85%19 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income56%Higher-income91%35 pp gap