Treffert Way for the Exceptional Mind, North Fond Du Lac WI

Original Research by School Decision on Treffert Way for the Exceptional Mind

Treffert Way for the Exceptional Mind is a small charter school serving kindergarten through eighth grade within the North Fond du Lac School District. It sits on Minnesota Avenue in the village of North Fond du Lac, a compact, car-dependent community northwest of the city of Fond du Lac. The school’s name suggests a focus on students with exceptional cognitive profiles, but the available data does not include a description of the program’s instructional model or any specific eligibility criteria, so what that means in practice is something a parent would need to ask about directly.

The school is very small, with an enrollment that would fit in a handful of classrooms. Its student body is predominantly white, and about half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting the village’s moderate-income base. State testing results are available for most grades, though participation was full in the grades where scores were reported. Across math, English language arts, science, and social studies, the share of students scoring proficient or advanced was consistently low in every tested grade and subject. In math, for example, proficient rates in fourth through eighth grade ranged from roughly one in six to one in two students. In English language arts, most grades saw fewer than one in four students reach proficiency, with seventh grade as an exception where half did. Science and social studies results were similarly modest. Third-grade results in math and ELA were suppressed entirely, likely because the group size was too small to report. These scores place the school’s overall proficiency index in the bottom quartile among districts in Fond du Lac County — a weak showing that is worth a close look.

Because the school stops at eighth grade, there is no graduation rate, no information on high school course access, and no chronic absenteeism data. The state’s civil rights and discipline data are also absent. A parent evaluating this school will want to understand what happens after eighth grade: the district’s Horace Mann High School would be the default next step, but how well Treffert Way prepares students for that transition is not captured here.

The village of North Fond du Lac itself is small and mostly residential, with a manufacturing and construction employment base, a modest median household income, and a homeownership rate that reflects its blue-collar character. Housing values have risen in recent years but remain below national averages. The district’s other schools — Friendship Learning Center, Bessie Allen Middle School, and Horace Mann High School — sit within the same village, so Treffert Way families are part of a compact, interconnected community. No major recent changes or initiatives in the district were found through publicly available records.

For a family considering this school, the central question is about fit. The charter status and the school’s name imply a specialized approach, yet no detail on that approach appears in the data. The test results are clearly below typical state and county norms, though small numbers mean that a handful of students can sway percentages dramatically. A parent would want to visit, talk to the principal, and ask what the school’s academic goals are, how it measures progress beyond state tests, and what kind of support is available for students who are struggling or who need enrichment. Without that context, the profile here is of a very small, low-performing school by conventional metrics, set in a working-class village with limited economic diversity. It may serve a specific population well, but the available evidence does not make that case on its own.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 49% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▼ 37 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 52% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▼ 8 pts below county median

Grade 625%

School 25% · District 33% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 35 pts below county median

Grade 725%

School 25% · District 40% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▼ 29 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 41% · ▼ 16 pts below district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 40 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 38% · ▼ 21 pts below district

▼ 35 pts below state median · ▼ 34 pts below county median

Grade 517%

School 17% · District 40% · ▼ 23 pts below district

▼ 34 pts below state median · ▼ 37 pts below county median

Grade 613%

School 13% · District 35% · ▼ 22 pts below district

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

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 33% · ▲ 17 pts above district

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 37% · ▼ 12 pts below district

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

Science

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 36% · ▼ 20 pts below district

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

Grade 825%

School 25% · District 27% · ▼ 2 pts below district

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

Social studies

Grade 417%

School 17% · District 39% · ▼ 22 pts below district

▼ 48 pts below state median · ▼ 43 pts below county median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 41% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

This schoolNorth Fond du Lac 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.