North Lake Elementary, North Lake WI

Original Research by School Decision on North Lake Elementary

North Lake Elementary serves students from four-year-old kindergarten through eighth grade in the small, lake-centered unincorporated community of North Lake, Wisconsin. The school is a regular public school and sits within the North Lake School District, a single-school district that is the only public school option in this area of Waukesha County.

The school community is strikingly homogeneous. The student body is heavily white, with a modest share of students who identify as two or more races and a very small share who are Hispanic. Black and Asian students each make up a very small portion of enrollment. Only a tiny fraction of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate so low it signals a population with very little economic diversity. No data was available on the share of students receiving special education services or those classified as English learners. For a parent weighing whether the peer environment matches their child’s background, these demographics are a plain fact: this is not a school where a student will encounter significant racial or economic diversity.

Academically, North Lake Elementary posts strong results on the Wisconsin Forward exam, with some variation by grade and subject. In math, the lowest proficiency rate appeared in fifth grade, while rates were high in third, sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. In English language arts, the school’s performance was strongest in sixth and eighth grades, with a softer spot in fourth grade, where the proficiency rate dropped noticeably. Science and social studies results, tested only in fourth and eighth grades, were solid. Overall, the school’s proficiency index sits above the midpoint relative to districts in Waukesha County. That said, a parent may want to ask the school about the dip in fourth-grade reading and fifth-grade math, as those stand out within an otherwise consistently performing profile.

Because the school serves only through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. That is not a gap in the school’s performance; it simply reflects the grade band. Students who attend North Lake Elementary will need to transition to a different high school after eighth grade, likely in a neighboring district.

The school is small, with an enrollment that fits a single building. Class sizes appear modest, especially in the early elementary grades. The community of North Lake itself is tiny, a crossroads settlement centered on the lake with a post office and a history as a milling and ice-harvesting town. It was first designated as a census-designated place at the 2020 census. The lake is the main civic and recreational anchor, with a public boat landing and active lake-management organizations. Walkability is likely limited; this is a highway-oriented rural lakeside community. No major employers, parks, or transit hubs were identified in available research. The district itself reported no recent parent-relevant changes in the publicly available information that was searched.

For a family looking at this school, the picture is fairly clear. North Lake Elementary offers solid academic performance in a very small, economically and racially homogeneous setting. The school is a single point of entry for the community, and the elementary-through-middle-grade structure means a child can stay in one building from kindergarten through eighth grade. A parent who values academic proficiency, small scale, and a consistent peer group will find a straightforward fit. A parent looking for racial or economic diversity, or for a school with a wide array of specialized programs or high school offerings, will need to look elsewhere or plan ahead for the high school transition.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 387%

School 87% · District 87%

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

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 71%

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

Grade 553%

School 53% · District 53%

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 20 pts below county median

Grade 684%

School 84% · District 84%

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 782%

School 82% · District 82%

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

Grade 882%

School 82% · District 82%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 384%

School 84% · District 84%

▲ 31 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 62%

▲ 10 pts above state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▼ 1 pts below county median

Grade 692%

School 92% · District 92%

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 17 pts above county median

Grade 779%

School 79% · District 79%

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

Grade 887%

School 87% · District 87%

▲ 35 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Science

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 71%

▲ 19 pts above state median · ▲ 3 pts above county median

Grade 880%

School 80% · District 80%

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 88%

▲ 23 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 882%

School 82% · District 82%

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

This schoolNorth Lake 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.