Mauston Montessori Charter School, Mauston WI

Original Research by School Decision on Mauston Montessori Charter School

Mauston Montessori Charter School is a public charter school within the Mauston School District, serving children from Pre-K through sixth grade. Located on Grayside Avenue in Mauston, Wisconsin, it is one of several schools in the district, which also includes traditional elementary, middle, and high school campuses. The school offers a Montessori-based approach, which for families considering it means a classroom environment that emphasizes self-directed learning, mixed-age groupings, and hands-on work, though the data provided does not elaborate on the specific Montessori model in use here. The school is small, with a total enrollment that characterizes it as such for its Pre-K through sixth grade span.

The student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of students identifying as two or more races and a smaller share identifying as Hispanic, Asian, Black, or American Indian or Alaska Native. Just over half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a substantial portion of families are in the lower-to-middle income range. The data does not include counts for students with disabilities or English learners, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

State testing results are available for grades three through five, but the school serves grades beyond that, and the grade six group is very small. The testing picture is mixed. In third grade, a majority of students met proficiency in English language arts, while math proficiency was around the midpoint. By fourth and fifth grades, proficiency rates in both subjects dipped noticeably, with a smaller share of students meeting the bar, especially in math where the rate was low. Science and social studies are tested only in fourth grade; about a third of students were proficient in science, and half were proficient in social studies. These are results from a single year and a small testing group, so a single cohort can swing the numbers. Compared to other districts in Juneau County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades sits in the bottom quartile, a position a parent would want to discuss with the school to understand the academic support structures in place.

Because the school ends at sixth grade, there is no graduation rate data. After sixth grade, students would transition to the district’s Olson Middle School. The passage of a recent operational referendum in the Mauston School District, publicly reported, has allowed the district to restore positions and reduce class sizes, which may affect the experience of students who eventually move into the district’s other schools.

Mauston itself is a small city and the Juneau County seat, with a compact downtown along the Lemonweir River and a rural, small-town character. Housing values in the area are below the state benchmark, reflecting a more affordable market typical of central Wisconsin. The population has been essentially flat in recent years, with no major new developments identified in available sources. For a family looking at this school, the draw is the Montessori philosophy in a small, public-school setting. The academic results from state tests, particularly in upper elementary math, are an area where a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand the instruction and intervention approaches used.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 49% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 47% · ▼ 31 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 33% · ▼ 17 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 49% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 47% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 32% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median

Science

Grade 433%

School 33% · District 58% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▼ 18 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 71% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 15 pts below state median

This schoolMauston 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-income50%Higher-income60%10 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income50%Higher-income50%0 pp gap