Mckinley Elementary, Kenosha WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Mckinley Elementary

McKinley Elementary serves children from prekindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school within the Kenosha Unified School District. The school sits in a central residential area of Kenosha, a mid-sized city on Lake Michigan that grew around automotive manufacturing and now hosts corporate headquarters like Snap-on and Jockey International alongside distribution centers. The city’s lakefront has been redeveloped into HarborPark with museums, a restored electric streetcar, beaches, and walking paths, and it is the last stop on Chicago’s Union Pacific North Metra commuter line. Civic life is concentrated along the downtown core, while higher education campuses are spread across the city.

The district that operates McKinley has been making consequential changes. Kenosha Unified voted in 2023 to close five elementary schools and one middle school as part of a rightsizing plan driven by declining enrollment projected into the 2030s. Those closures redrew attendance boundaries and reduced the number of neighborhood school options for families. Enrollment districtwide has continued to drop, which is creating budget pressure and directly affecting which schools children attend and what programs are available. McKinley itself was not among the schools closed, but families moving into this zone or already assigned here should be aware that attendance boundaries have shifted and may shift again.

The student body at McKinley is diverse and economically disadvantaged at a high rate. The largest group of students is Hispanic, followed by Black, White, and multiracial students. A substantial share qualify for free or reduced-price meals, reflecting the school’s location in a part of Kenosha where household incomes are below the city average. Enrollment is modest for a PK-5 school, with classes across all elementary grades.

State test results from Wisconsin’s Forward assessments for the most recent year show that student proficiency in math, English language arts, science, and social studies is low across all tested grades. The school’s overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quartile when measured against the districts in Kenosha County, a comparison that includes the city’s other elementary schools. Participation rates on the tests were high, so the results are a full picture of current performance. Parents considering McKinley may want to ask what academic intervention and enrichment programs are in place and how the school supports students who are behind grade level.

No data was available on staffing levels, class sizes, discipline rates, or chronic absenteeism, so those aspects of the school environment cannot be described here. Similarly, the payload did not include information on special programs or course access, though as a regular elementary school McKinley follows the district’s standard curriculum. The school is not a charter or magnet school, and its Title I status was not reported.

Housing in the area around McKinley carries values near the state and national medians. Rents are a notable share of typical incomes, but the market is not dramatically out of step with what many families in Kenosha pay. The city itself offers a walkable downtown, public lakefront access, and a mix of manufacturing, logistics, and professional employment.

McKinley Elementary fits a family looking for a neighborhood school in a city with a strong sense of place and commuter access to Chicago. The academic results are a clear concern and warrant direct conversation with the school about support structures. The wider district context of consolidation and boundary adjustments means that stability of attendance zones is not guaranteed in the near term. For a family that values urban amenities and is prepared to engage actively with the school around student progress, McKinley is a grounded, if currently underperforming, option within Kenosha Unified.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 326%

School 26% · District 46% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 30 pts below state median · ▼ 25 pts below county median

Grade 412%

School 12% · District 49% · ▼ 37 pts below district

▼ 42 pts below state median · ▼ 41 pts below county median

Grade 531%

School 31% · District 45% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 18 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 321%

School 21% · District 42% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 47% · ▼ 29 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 30 pts below county median

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 45% · ▼ 27 pts below district

▼ 32 pts below state median · ▼ 31 pts below county median

Science

Grade 418%

School 18% · District 41% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 33 pts below state median · ▼ 24 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 427%

School 27% · District 57% · ▼ 30 pts below district

▼ 38 pts below state median · ▼ 29 pts below county median

This schoolKenosha 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 4Lower-income13%Higher-income30%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income4%Higher-income30%26 pp gap