Onalaska Middle, Onalaska WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Onalaska Middle

Onalaska Middle School sits on a distinct campus in Onalaska, the second-largest city in La Crosse County and part of the La Crosse–Onalaska metropolitan area. It serves grades six through eight as a regular public school within the Onalaska School District. The city is built on a ridge above the Black River, with wooded bluffs and river-bottom land forming the edges, and it has experienced steady population growth, adding new housing and civic infrastructure; the recently opened Dash Center community center is one example. Public transit runs on three routes in the city, and the community holds a Bike Friendly designation. Major employers include a credit-union headquarters, a printing company, a manufacturing firm, a convenience-store support center, and a regional healthcare system, giving the local economy a diversified base. Housing values in the area sit modestly above the Wisconsin state benchmark, and the typical rent is near the national share of household income.

The school itself serves a student body where the majority identify as white, with a smaller Asian share, and a still smaller combination of Hispanic, two-or-more-races, black, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. About a third of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. State testing results are available across the three grade levels in math, English language arts, science, and social studies. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above rises steadily across the grades, with the seventh-grade cohort landing below the sixth and eighth. In English language arts, a similar pattern appears; the seventh-grade proficiency share is lower than both adjacent grades, and it is the softest subject across the board. Eighth-grade science results place a little over half of students at or above the proficient mark, while social studies in the same grade is the clear bright spot, with a large majority reaching proficiency or above.

When the school is placed relative to the other districts in La Crosse County, its overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades sits just at the midpoint of the comparison set, meaning it falls in the middle of the county districts. It is below the countywide maximum and above the minimum, but not near the top. A parent may consider what that middle position looks like for specific subjects; the social studies achievement stands out as a local strength.

No civil-rights or discipline data appeared in the available records, so the school’s environment around those topics cannot be characterized from this evidence. No attendance or chronic absenteeism rate was reported, and no course-access or staffing profiles were found. The district brief turned up no major recent referendums, curriculum changes, or property-tax shifts that would reshape the experience. The city’s growth trajectory and the district’s stable school configuration together suggest a middle school that serves a growing community with a solid suburban-commercial backdrop and student outcomes that track in the middle range of the county.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 657%

School 57% · District 57%

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 869%

School 69% · District 69%

▲ 18 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 660%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 7 pts above state median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 861%

School 61% · District 61%

▲ 9 pts above state median

Science

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 876%

School 76% · District 76%

▲ 12 pts above state median

This schoolOnalaska 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 6Lower-income37%Higher-income70%33 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income34%Higher-income64%30 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income51%Higher-income66%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income33%Higher-income67%34 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income43%Higher-income70%27 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income48%Higher-income78%30 pp gap