The top reported proficiency rate is 28% in Social studies. The lowest is 7% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Elm Creative Arts Elementary
Elm Creative Arts Elementary, a regular public school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade in the Milwaukee School District, is located in a racially and economically concentrated pocket of the city. The school’s student body is overwhelmingly composed of Black students, and the share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is very high. For families weighing options, the primary distinguishing feature here is the arts-driven programming, but a parent should pay close attention to the academic proficiency levels reported by the state, as they point to significant challenges in core subjects.
On the 2024-25 Wisconsin Forward assessments, the pattern across tested grades shows that very few students reached the proficient level. In third-grade math and English language arts, the proficiency rate was in the low single digits. Fourth-grade performance was higher, with roughly one in six students proficient in both math and ELA, and about one in eight in science. Fifth-grade results presented a wide gap between subjects: math had no students reaching proficiency, while ELA proficiency was in the low single digits. The strongest relative showing was in fourth-grade social studies, where more than a quarter of students met the proficiency bar. Taken together, the school’s overall proficiency index places it in the bottom quartile among districts in Milwaukee County. A family choosing this school would want to understand what academic interventions and supports are in place, as the baseline state results are soft.
Milwaukee itself is the state’s largest city, a dense urban center on Lake Michigan with a mix of Fortune 500 headquarters and a manufacturing and healthcare heritage. The school’s immediate neighborhood is in the 53205 ZIP code. Local housing values and rents, as reflected in the area’s Zillow Home Value Index and Zillow Observed Rent Index, are well below both the Milwaukee County median and the state benchmark, consistent with a lower-income, older housing stock. The Milwaukee housing market overall shows a median listing price below the state figure, with active inventory rising.
The parent district, Milwaukee Public Schools, is navigating a period of financial and operational strain. A 2024 referendum passed to fund building accessibility projects, signaling a long-term investment in facilities, but the district also projects a significant budget deficit for 2025-26 driven by declining enrollment and the expiration of federal COVID-19 relief dollars, and is considering cuts that could affect programs and staffing. The district is also working through a Long Range Facilities Plan that may lead to school closures or consolidations. For a family at Elm Creative Arts, these district-level pressures could translate into changes in class sizes, resource allocation, or even the school’s future footprint.
The school, by design, is a creative arts elementary, which may appeal to families seeking an environment where arts are integrated into the curriculum. Data on specific program offerings, staffing ratios, special education and English learner populations, discipline rates, and chronic absenteeism was not available for this narrative, so a parent should seek those details directly from the school or the district. Similarly, because the school ends at fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report here. The school serves grades PK through 5, which means the students who take state tests are a subset of the full enrollment, and the figures reported here reflect those tested.
For a parent considering Elm Creative Arts, the picture is one of a dedicated arts focus in a high-poverty, segregated urban context, where the core academic results on state tests are low and the district is under financial pressure. The school may be a good fit for families who prioritize arts programming and are prepared to engage with the school about academic supports. A parent should visit, talk to the principal about how the school addresses literacy and math gaps, and ask about what the arts integration looks like day to day. The broader Milwaukee housing market is affordable relative to the region, though the immediate neighborhood reflects the city's deep economic disparities.
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