Marathon Venture Academy, Marathon WI

Original Research by School Decision on Marathon Venture Academy

Marathon Venture Academy is a public charter school serving grades six through eight in the Marathon City School District. It is a school of choice within the district, operating as a regular school with charter status. The student body is small and predominantly White, with a modest share of Asian and Hispanic students. Roughly one in four students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

The school’s academic results on Wisconsin’s Forward assessments show an uneven pattern across grade levels and subjects. Seventh graders posted the strongest proficiency rates in both math and English language arts, with roughly three in four meeting or exceeding expectations in math and two in three in ELA. Sixth and eighth graders performed lower in both subjects, with about two in five reaching the bar in math and close to half in ELA. In the tested grades—eighth grade only—science and social studies proficiency rates were close to three in five, a middle-of-the-road showing.

When placed alongside districts across Marathon County, the school’s overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of the group. That comparison, however, is between this single middle school and entire districts that include elementary and high schools, so the context is imperfect. The strongest academic year appears to be seventh grade, while eighth grade sees a noticeable drop—a pattern a family may want to explore further with the school.

No graduation rate applies because the school ends at eighth grade. Chronic absenteeism data, discipline records, staffing ratios, and course access information were not provided. The district brief reported no recent structural changes or new programs.

The school is located in the Village of Marathon City, which sits as a commercial and employment hub amid the rural Town of Marathon. The village is home to three major corporate headquarters—Marathon Cheese Corporation, Menzner Hardwoods, and County Materials Corporation—that have invested heavily in expansions in recent years. Over fifty small businesses in agriculture, manufacturing, services, and healthcare operate in the village. The broader town is low-density, with homes and farms spread along county roads. Walkability is minimal outside the village core.

Marathon City lies at the intersection of two state highways, minutes from the I-39 corridor, and Central Wisconsin Airport is roughly fifteen miles away. Northcentral Technical College and other higher education facilities are within a half-hour drive. The village describes its district’s schools as award-winning, but specific accolades for this charter were not detailed in the available data.

For a family considering Marathon Venture Academy, the school offers a focused middle-school environment in a community with strong local employment and commercial growth. The academic results are mixed, with a clear peak in seventh grade and softer performance in the other grades. A parent may want to ask about the dip in eighth-grade results, the school’s approach to supporting students across grade levels, and how the charter’s program differs from the district’s other middle-school options.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 642%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Grade 774%

School 74% · District 74%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 8 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 15 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 49%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 61%

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

Social studies

Grade 860%

School 60% · District 60%

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

This schoolMarathon City 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 6Lower-income12%Higher-income63%51 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income73%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income41%Higher-income52%11 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income6%Higher-income60%54 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income57%Higher-income80%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income29%Higher-income49%20 pp gap