Original Research by School Decision on Merrill High
Merrill High, part of the Merrill Area School District, serves grades nine through twelve as a regular public high school in the city of Merrill, the county seat of Lincoln County. Merrill is a small city with a historic downtown, a mix of manufacturing and insurance employers, and a self-described small-town character. The city has seen a slow population decline in recent years, and the district has experienced a steady enrollment drop over the past few years, a trend that may affect class sizes and program decisions across its schools.
The student body at Merrill High is predominantly white, with modest shares of Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races, and very small numbers of Black, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available in the source material we reviewed, so a reader who wants a full picture of the school’s support programs may wish to ask the school directly.
State testing data for Merrill High was not available in the information we received. This is a notable gap for a family evaluating academic performance. Because state assessments are a common way to measure how well a school is teaching core subjects, the lack of this information means a parent cannot use that typical benchmark to compare Merrill High with other schools. The school’s position relative to other districts in Lincoln County on proficiency, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism could not be calculated for the same reason. There is no graduation rate reported in the data either. For a high school, the absence of a graduation rate is a significant missing piece. It is possible that the state has not yet published the most recent figures, or that the data feed we used did not capture them, but whatever the cause, a family should plan to ask the school for its most recent graduation and state test results directly.
The school itself is a regular public high school, not a charter or magnet, and Title I status was not given. No information was provided on the school’s specific program offerings, such as Advanced Placement courses, dual credit options, career and technical education pathways, or extracurricular activities. Many Wisconsin high schools in districts of this size offer a range of such programs, but without the data, this cannot be confirmed for Merrill High. A parent interested in a particular academic track or elective should contact the school to learn what is available.
Housing in Merrill is more affordable than the national or state median, with home values having risen in the past year. The typical mortgage payment is estimated to be less than the typical rent, which may make buying more attractive for families settling in. The unemployment rate nationally is moderate, and the median household income nationally has held fairly steady.
For a family considering Merrill High, the bottom line is that the available data raises more questions than it answers. The school serves a midsized high school population in a stable but slowly shrinking small city. The student body is not very diverse economically or racially, and the share of students from lower-income households is moderate. The lack of state testing data and a graduation rate means the core academic picture is blank. A parent in this situation should treat the information gap as a signal to ask the school or district for their most recent report card, test scores, graduation rate, and a description of their college and career readiness programs before making a decision. The school’s strengths and weaknesses cannot be assessed from the record provided.
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