Clement Avenue Elementary, Milwaukee WI

Original Research by School Decision on Clement Avenue Elementary

Clement Avenue Elementary sits in Milwaukee’s Bay View neighborhood, a pocket of the city with a mix of older single-family homes and apartment buildings near the Lake Michigan shoreline. The school serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade, making it a single-building option for a family looking to keep a child in one school from early childhood through the end of middle school. It is a regular public school within the Milwaukee School District, not a charter or magnet.

The student body is diverse in its racial and ethnic makeup. Hispanic students make up the largest share, followed by white students, with smaller populations of Black, Asian, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A substantial majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the economic profile of the surrounding area.

State testing results from the 2024-25 school year show a pattern that varies by subject and grade. In math, the school’s strongest performance was in fourth grade, where a majority of students scored proficient or above. Third grade also saw a majority reaching that bar. Starting in fifth grade and continuing through eighth, the share of students reaching proficiency dropped well below half in every grade. The lowest point was in sixth grade, where a small fraction of students reached the proficient level. In English language arts, the pattern was similar. Third grade was the strongest, with a notable portion of students scoring proficient or above. Fourth grade had a lower share, and from fifth grade through eighth grade, the portion of students reaching proficiency was lower still. In science, fourth grade and eighth grade both had a moderate share of students scoring proficient or above. In social studies, fourth grade had a majority of students reach proficiency, and eighth grade had a smaller but still meaningful portion. The school’s overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades falls below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Milwaukee County.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. Information on chronic absenteeism, discipline, course access, and staffing was not available in the data provided. Parents who want a full picture of those areas may need to ask the school or district directly.

The Milwaukee School District, which operates Clement Avenue, is navigating a period of financial and facilities change. Voters approved a referendum in 2024 to fund accessibility improvements in aging school buildings, a multiyear commitment that signals investment in physical infrastructure. At the same time, the district faces a projected budget deficit driven by declining enrollment and the end of federal pandemic relief funds, with potential cuts to programs and staff. The district is also implementing a Long Range Facilities Plan that could lead to school closures or consolidations as it adjusts to lower enrollment.

Milwaukee itself is a large, economically diverse city with a strong industrial and financial sector. It has five Fortune 500 headquarters, a major healthcare presence, and a lakefront that draws festivals and tourism. The city has experienced population decline over several decades, and its racial segregation, a legacy of historical policies, remains a well-documented reality. For a family living in the Bay View area, Clement Avenue offers the convenience of a K-8 building in a neighborhood setting within a large urban district that is currently working through structural challenges.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 24% · ▲ 29 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 24 pts above county median

Grade 474%

School 74% · District 19% · ▲ 55 pts above district

▲ 20 pts above state median · ▲ 49 pts above county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 18% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 611%

School 11% · District 18% · ▼ 6 pts below district

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

Grade 723%

School 23% · District 22% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 19% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 22% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 22% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 21% · ▼ 4 pts below district

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

Grade 617%

School 17% · District 24% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

Grade 727%

School 27% · District 28% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 25 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 824%

School 24% · District 29% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 28 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Science

Grade 432%

School 32% · District 20% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

Grade 821%

School 21% · District 22% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 453%

School 53% · District 32% · ▲ 21 pts above district

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

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 36% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 26 pts below state median · even with county median

This schoolMilwaukee 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 4Lower-income23%Higher-income50%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income33%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income69%Higher-income83%14 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income17%5 pp gap