The top reported proficiency rate is 58% in Math. The lowest is 42% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Phillips Middle
Phillips Middle School serves roughly 160 students in grades six through eight as the sole public middle school within the Phillips School District. Located in the small city that serves as the county seat of Price County in northern Wisconsin, the school operates out of a building on Flambeau Avenue in a community shaped by its logging-era origins and its setting among lakes and northwoods terrain. The district itself, which covers the city and surrounding area, appears to have seen no major recent changes or disruptions publicly reported.
Academically, the school’s performance across state assessments presents a mixed but generally solid picture. In math, students consistently met or exceeded the state’s proficient threshold at rates above the midpoint among Price County districts, with each grade level showing a majority of students scoring proficient or advanced. English language arts results are more uneven: while sixth graders posted a strong proficiency rate, the share of proficient students dropped notably in seventh grade and again in eighth grade, where fewer than half of students scored at the proficient level. A parent may want to ask the school about supports in place for reading and writing as students progress through the middle grades. In science and social studies, the only tested grade is eighth, and results there are moderate, with roughly half of students reaching proficiency in social studies and somewhat fewer in science. Across all tested subjects, the school’s overall proficiency index places it above the midpoint relative to the other two districts in Price County, a meaningful position given the small peer set.
The student body is predominantly white, with a very small share of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. The fraction of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is notably low, which stands out relative to many rural districts in northern Wisconsin. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners were not available, so it is not possible to speak to the school’s special education or language support context from this evidence. Discipline data and chronic absenteeism rates were also missing; those are areas a family might want to explore directly.
The town of Phillips itself is a car-dependent community, with most residents driving alone to work. Housing values in the area are well below the Wisconsin state median, making homeownership more attainable here than in many parts of the state, and the homeownership rate suggests a meaningful share of rental housing as well. The median household income in the town is lower than the national figure, which aligns with the area’s small-city and northwoods character. Families considering a move will find a quiet, lake-rich environment with a traditional small-town center anchored by county government and local schools.
No information about specific course offerings, extracurriculars, or academic programs at the middle school was available in the data. Because the school serves only grades six through eight, there is no graduation rate to report. A parent looking for a small middle school in a rural, northwoods setting where math proficiency is a relative strength and where the student body is fairly homogeneous and economically comfortable would find Phillips Middle a plausible fit. The academic picture is strongest in math and weakest in later-grade ELA, and the gaps in publicly reported data on special populations and school climate are worth investigating further.
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