Mellen Public School, Mellen WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Mellen Public School

Mellen Public School sits in a small, rural Northwoods city that has been losing population for a long time. The town of Mellen, surrounded by the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and the Penokee Mountain Range, has a compact downtown on Bennett Street and a working industrial base built around Columbia Forest Products' veneer plant. Copper Falls State Park lies just north of town. This is a quiet, outdoor-oriented community, and the school is very much of that place.

The school itself is a regular public school serving every grade from PK through 12 under one roof. Enrollment is small, and the student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of American Indian students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school is the only public school in the Mellen School District, which covers the town and the surrounding rural area.

State testing data is available for grades 3 through 8 in math, English language arts, science, and social studies. The results vary by grade and subject, as they often do in a small school where a few students can move a percentage point a lot. In the elementary grades, proficiency rates across math and ELA sit around the midpoint between half and two-thirds of students meeting the state standard, with some grades higher and some lower. By middle school, math proficiency hovers just below half, while ELA dips to just above a third in one grade before climbing back. Science and social studies show stronger results, with a clear majority of eighth graders reaching proficiency in those subjects. Overall, when you combine all tested grades and subjects into a single index, the school's performance lands above the midpoint among the handful of districts in Ashland County. The most notable soft spot appears in math and ELA for some middle grades; a parent may want to look into this further with the school.

No high school testing results or graduation rate appear in the available data. The school serves grades 9 through 12, but the state assessment data provided only covers grades 3 through 8 for the Forward exam. It is possible that high school students take a different assessment, or that the data was not captured here. Readers considering the high school program should ask the school directly about graduation rates, college-going, and career pathways. The district's website may hold more information.

No recent district-level changes such as referendums, curriculum shifts, or property tax adjustments surfaced in the research. The town's housing market is inexpensive relative to state and national benchmarks, and the population decline means little new development pressure. A family moving here should expect a quiet, close-knit school environment where the peer group is small and the academic outcomes are mixed but broadly on par with other rural schools in the county. The setting offers abundant outdoor recreation and a historic downtown, but the local economy is narrow and long-term population trends are downward. The school fits a family that values a small, rural, single-campus experience and is comfortable asking for specifics on high school outcomes that are not reflected in the published data.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 12 pts below state median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 558%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 645%

School 45% · District 45%

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 747%

School 47% · District 47%

▼ 7 pts below state median

Grade 846%

School 46% · District 46%

▼ 6 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 44%

▼ 8 pts below state median

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 18 pts above state median

Grade 635%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 18 pts below state median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 42%

▼ 10 pts below state median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Science

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 864%

School 64% · District 64%

▲ 12 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 472%

School 72% · District 72%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 873%

School 73% · District 73%

▲ 9 pts above state median

This schoolMellen 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-income44%Higher-income44%0 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income70%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income69%3 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income39%Higher-income29%10 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income63%Higher-income27%35 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income56%22 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income38%Higher-income70%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income67%Higher-income54%13 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income31%Higher-income71%41 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income63%Higher-income36%26 pp gap