Big Bend Elementary, Big Bend WI

Original Research by School Decision on Big Bend Elementary

Big Bend Elementary sits in the small, residential village of Big Bend, a car-dependent community on the Fox River between Waukesha and Waterford. The village has a semi-rural, exurban feel with high homeownership and rising property values, though its population has declined somewhat in recent years. Students who live here are part of the Mukwonago School District, and for the elementary years they attend this single building, which serves pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.

Testing data from the 2024-25 school year, the most recent available, shows the school performing well above the midpoint among districts in Waukesha County, landing in the top quartile for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above ranged from a higher mark in fourth grade to a softer result in fifth grade, with third and sixth grades landing between those two points. In English language arts, the pattern was broadly similar, with fourth grade again the strongest and fifth grade the softest. The school tests science and social studies only in fourth grade, and in both subjects the results were strong.

The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. It does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. The student body is composed predominantly of white students, with a small share of Hispanic students and even smaller shares of Black, Asian, multiracial, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available. The school does not appear to operate under Title I.

Big Bend Elementary is a neighborhood school for a community that sends its older children to Parkview Middle School and Mukwonago High School, both located outside the village. There is no distinct walkable downtown in Big Bend; civic life is dispersed across the village hall, the library, and institutional sites. A proposed athletic complex on the edge of town points to some recreational investment, but no major housing developments were identified. The district itself did not appear to have undergone any significant recent changes such as a referendum, curriculum overhaul, or facility expansion in the last several years.

For a family considering the area, Big Bend Elementary offers a solid base of academic results and a student population where economic diversity is present but not high. The school is the sole elementary option within the village, so it serves as the default for local families. The village's car-dependent layout means that getting to school, like most errands, will require a drive. The school's results in fourth grade across all tested subjects are particularly strong, while fifth grade shows a dip that a parent may want to ask the school about. The absence of student-support data means a family with a child who needs special education services or English language support will want to inquire directly about those programs. Overall, this is a school that fits a family looking for consistently above-average elementary academics in a quiet, low-density exurban setting with limited commercial bustle.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 379%

School 79% · District 80% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 22 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 81% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 34 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 569%

School 69% · District 75% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 18 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 677%

School 77% · District 80% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 24 pts above state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 383%

School 83% · District 80% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▲ 10 pts above county median

Grade 488%

School 88% · District 75% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▲ 36 pts above state median · ▲ 16 pts above county median

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 76% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 21 pts above state median · even with county median

Grade 674%

School 74% · District 75% · ▼ 1 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 485%

School 85% · District 71% · ▲ 14 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 491%

School 91% · District 84% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 9 pts above county median

This schoolMukwonago 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-income62%Higher-income87%26 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income83%Higher-income89%5 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income73%Higher-income72%1 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income73%Higher-income75%2 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income62%Higher-income82%21 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income67%Higher-income90%24 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income73%28 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income64%Higher-income80%17 pp gap