Stuart Elementary, Milwaukee WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Stuart Elementary

Stuart Elementary is a regular public school in Milwaukee, serving prekindergarten through fifth grade as part of Milwaukee Public Schools. Located in a neighborhood of Wisconsin’s largest city, the school sits within a district that is working through a major facilities overhaul and a budget shortfall. For families considering this school, the picture is shaped by a student body experiencing high poverty, academic performance that trails most other schools in the county, and a broader district context of financial pressure and building reinvestment.

Milwaukee itself anchors the region with a lakefront economy, a mix of Fortune 500 headquarters, legacy manufacturing, and healthcare institutions. The city has culturally distinct neighborhoods but remains deeply segregated by race and income. The housing market around the school shows moderate home values and rising rents, with an active number of listings and a somewhat tight supply. Families moving into the area will find a city with strong civic and cultural amenities but also significant economic disparities.

The student body at Stuart is relatively small for a PK-5 school. Black students make up the largest share, followed by Asian students, with smaller shares identifying as Hispanic, two or more races, and White. A very large share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of high poverty. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about those supports.

State testing results from the Wisconsin Forward exam were available for all tested grades, with participation rates near full. The school’s overall proficiency across math, English language arts, science, and social studies placed it in the bottom quartile relative to districts in Milwaukee County. Within the school, results varied by subject and grade. In math, third-grade students showed a modest share reaching proficiency, but that share fell sharply by fifth grade, where very few students met the standard. In English language arts, a similar pattern appeared: third and fourth grades each had about a quarter to a third of students proficient, while fifth grade saw a smaller share. Fourth-grade science results were in a similar range, while social studies in fourth grade had a somewhat higher share of students reaching proficiency. A parent may want to discuss with the school how instruction and support are differentiated across grade levels to address the drop-off.

Because Stuart only serves elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to consider. No program offerings, staffing ratios, or attendance data were present in the records, so details on class size, extracurricular options, and chronic absence patterns are gaps a family would need to investigate directly.

Milwaukee Public Schools, the district that oversees Stuart, is in a period of transition. In 2024, voters approved a referendum to fund school building accessibility projects as part of a long-range facilities plan, which may lead to school closures or consolidations in the coming years. The district is also projecting a significant budget deficit for the 2025-26 school year, driven by declining enrollment and the end of federal COVID-19 relief funds, and is considering program cuts and staffing reductions. These district-level pressures could affect resources and services at Stuart.

For a family, Stuart Elementary offers a neighborhood school setting in a large urban district with a student body that is racially diverse and very high-need economically. Its academic results are low relative to other Milwaukee County schools, with a noticeable decline in performance by fifth grade. The district’s ongoing financial and facilities changes add uncertainty to the school’s immediate horizon. A parent considering Stuart will want to speak with the school about specific academic supports, intervention strategies, and how the district’s plans might affect their child’s experience through the elementary years.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 333%

School 33% · District 24% · ▲ 10 pts above district

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

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 19% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 57%

School 7% · District 18% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▼ 44 pts below state median · ▼ 16 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 328%

School 28% · District 22% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Grade 430%

School 30% · District 22% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Grade 519%

School 19% · District 21% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 426%

School 26% · District 20% · ▲ 6 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 436%

School 36% · District 32% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 3 pts below 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 3Lower-income23%Higher-income40%17 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income27%Higher-income50%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income21%Higher-income13%8 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income27%Higher-income50%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income22%Higher-income50%28 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income3%Higher-income25%22 pp gap