Banta Bilingual Elementary, Menasha WI

Original Research by School Decision on Banta Bilingual Elementary

Banta Bilingual Elementary is a regular public school in Menasha that serves kindergarten through fifth grade. As its name signals, the school operates a bilingual program, and that language focus is the primary academic identity that sets it apart from other elementary options in the Menasha Joint School District.

The student body is shaped by the school’s location and program. A large majority of students are Hispanic, with the remainder being White and a very small number from other backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. This is an elementary school with a moderate enrollment for its grade band, with class sizes that appear to be typical for the district. The school is not a charter, magnet, or Title I school as far as the available data indicates.

State testing results from the Wisconsin Forward exam provide a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates in the tested grades run modestly below the midpoint, a parent may want to discuss with the school how literacy instruction is integrated with the bilingual program. In math, the pattern is similar. Science and social studies are only tested in fourth grade, and those results show a somewhat higher share of students meeting the bar, particularly in social studies. It is worth noting that a school serving kindergarten through fifth grade does not have a graduation rate, because those students have not yet reached high school.

When placed among its peers, the school sits in the bottom quartile of districts in Winnebago County on an overall proficiency index that averages performance across tested subjects and grades. That comparison should be read with the understanding that it reflects a single year of data and that the school’s bilingual mission attracts a population that may be at a different starting point with English language development than schools without such a program.

Looking for information on chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, discipline rates, and English learner or special education counts, the available records did not provide that data. Similarly, no recent district-level changes such as referendums, boundary shifts, or curriculum updates were found in public reporting, so it is not possible to speak to any such developments here.

Menasha itself is a city on the Fox River with a strong industrial heritage centered on papermaking and manufacturing. It is part of the Fox Cities region and functions as a single economic unit with neighboring Neenah. The community has a traditional downtown and older residential neighborhoods with mature trees. Housing values in the zip code are below the state average, which is consistent with much of the Fox Valley. The city has been growing steadily, and its population has become more diverse over time, with a significant and growing Hispanic share.

For a family considering Banta Bilingual Elementary, the central question is whether the bilingual program aligns with their goals for their child. The school offers a language immersion environment that other elementary schools in the district do not, and that program shapes the peer group and classroom experience from kindergarten onward. The academic results suggest room for growth in core subjects, particularly in the primary grades, and a family would want to understand how the school supports literacy in both English and the partner language. The setting is a mid-sized working-class city, not a suburban or rural one, and the school building is part of the fabric of a neighborhood near the river. This is a school that serves a specific community with a clear programmatic identity, and it will fit families who value that identity and are engaged in supporting their child's learning within it.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 344%

School 44% · District 43% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 2 pts below county median

Grade 439%

School 39% · District 44% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 539%

School 39% · District 48% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▼ 12 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 324%

School 24% · District 38% · ▼ 14 pts below district

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

Grade 454%

School 54% · District 41% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 48% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Science

Grade 443%

School 43% · District 38% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 9 pts below state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 50% · ▲ 11 pts above district

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

This schoolMenasha Joint 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-income13%Higher-income44%32 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income75%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income75%42 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income31%Higher-income67%35 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income25%Higher-income75%50 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income22%Higher-income56%33 pp gap