The top reported proficiency rate is 83% in Social studies. The lowest is 56% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Monticello Middle
Monticello Middle is the sole public middle school within the Monticello School District, serving grades six through eight in a small rural village in Green County, Wisconsin. The village itself sits in southern Wisconsin's dairy country, a short drive from Madison, and is known for its cheesemaking history, a modest downtown corridor along Main Street, and nearby recreational trails. The school's enrollment is quite small, reflecting the size of the community it serves, and the student body is predominantly white, with a very small share of Hispanic students and students identifying as two or more races. Slightly under half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that gives a sense of the economic mix in the attendance area.
Academically, Monticello Middle presents a picture that has a clear arc across its grade levels. In both math and English language arts, the proficiency rates on the state Forward assessment rise as students progress. In sixth grade, just over half of students scored proficient or above in math and just under half did so in ELA. By seventh grade, the math rate climbed noticeably while the ELA rate held at a similar level. By eighth grade, the proficiency rate became very strong in both subjects, with a large majority of students meeting the bar. The eighth-grade cohort also performed well in science and social studies, with similarly high proficiency rates. Across all tested subjects and grades combined, the school’s overall proficiency index lands in the top quartile among the six districts in Green County. This is a school where the academic trajectory, at least in this single year of data, shows a substantial jump in performance by the time students reach their final middle school year.
Because Monticello Middle serves only grades six through eight, there is no graduation rate to report here. The school also does not have publicly available data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, special education enrollment, or the number of English learners. A parent wanting a fuller picture of student support and behavioral climate would need to ask the school or district directly for those details. The data that is available on civil rights topics is similarly absent, so nothing can be said about how the school serves students with disabilities or those learning English.
The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it is part of the Monticello School District, which also includes an elementary school and a high school. The district and village coordinate on recreational programming, including a summer camp and pool activities, which is typical for a small community where the school serves as a civic hub. No recent district-level changes, such as referendums or major curriculum shifts, were found in public sources, so the district appears to have been stable in the recent period.
The village of Monticello itself is a stable, small rural community without signs of rapid growth. Housing values in the area are near the state median, and the village's economy is supported by a handful of local businesses, agriculture-related enterprises, and the public sector. For families considering the school, the context is a tight-knit, car-dependent village where the school and town are closely intertwined. The school's small size and rising proficiency trajectory by eighth grade are its primary academic signatures, while the gaps in publicly reported data on special populations and discipline mean those areas remain unknown from the available record.
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