Shady Lane Elementary, Menomonee Falls WI

Original Research by School Decision on Shady Lane Elementary

Shady Lane Elementary serves children from pre-kindergarten through second grade in the Menomonee Falls School District. It is one of four elementary schools in the village, and because it covers only the earliest grades, its role is foundational: getting the youngest students through their introduction to formal schooling before they move to a building serving older elementary grades. This means there is no graduation rate to report, and the state testing results that are available come from a single school year and cover only a portion of the school’s grade span.

The school’s student body is predominantly white, with a modest share of students who are Asian, Hispanic, Black, or identify as two or more races. About one in every six students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is on the lower side for public schools across Wisconsin. The school is not a charter or magnet, and state data does not indicate Title I status. Data on special education identification and English learner status were not available.

On the 2016-17 Wisconsin Forward Exam, the only year for which results are posted, Shady Lane’s students showed a pattern typical of an early-elementary school: performance that tended to be strongest in the tested grades, with some variation by subject and grade level. In the lower tested grades, math proficiency was broadly solid, while in a couple of instances the share of students meeting state expectations in both math and English language arts came in at a lower level than what is often seen among peers in Waukesha County. Because the exam tests only grades three through five, and Shady Lane serves only up to grade two, the results that exist come from prior years when the school still housed those upper grades. A parent should note that the available data is both dated and partial, and is not a picture of the current cohort of very young students. The school’s overall proficiency index, averaged across subjects and tested grades, sat in the bottom quartile relative to districts across Waukesha County. That positioning is worth understanding as a snapshot from roughly a decade ago, not a current measure.

The school environment data is thin. There is no information on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, staffing ratios, or course access. For a primary school serving the youngest children, the absence of these measures limits what can be said about daily conditions in the building. A parent may want to ask the school or district directly for current information on class sizes, teacher experience, and support for early literacy and math.

Menomonee Falls is a large village of mixed character, with a historic downtown, substantial corporate campuses, and residential subdivisions spread over a wide area. The village’s economy is anchored by major employers like Kohl’s corporate headquarters, Froedtert Health, and several manufacturing firms. Jobs outnumber adult residents, giving the community a strong employment base. Housing values in the zip code are above the national median, and the local market has been active. The village passed a significant bond referendum in 2023 to fund infrastructure, safety, and accessibility upgrades across all six district schools, which means families buying into the area will see a property tax impact tied to those improvements.

Shady Lane Elementary fits a family looking for a neighborhood school that takes children at the very start of their education and passes them on to another building after second grade. Its academic record is drawn from an older dataset, and the most relevant question for a prospective parent is likely not test scores from years ago but how the school currently supports early reading and math readiness. Because the available data does not answer that, a visit and a conversation with the principal are the natural next steps.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 364%

School 64% · District 69% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 8 pts above state median · ▼ 14 pts below county median

Grade 483%

School 83% · District 73% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 29 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 560%

School 60% · District 70% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 350%

School 50% · District 63% · ▼ 13 pts below district

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

Grade 464%

School 64% · District 63% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 64% · ▼ 19 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 27 pts below county median

Science

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 65% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 71% · ▼ 8 pts below district

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

This schoolMenomonee Falls 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-income51%7 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income66%16 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income33%Higher-income48%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income33%Higher-income70%37 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income63%Higher-income86%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income58%Higher-income60%2 pp gap