Pittsville Elementary, Pittsville WI

Original Research by School Decision on Pittsville Elementary

Pittsville Elementary is a regular public school serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade in the small, rural community of Pittsville, Wisconsin. The school sits in Wood County, a part of the state that blends agricultural and light industrial economies, and it draws its students from a town that describes itself as having a friendly small-town atmosphere. The community has seen a modest population decline over recent years, and the local housing market carries a price range that falls below state and national benchmarks, reflecting a lower cost of living that families may find appealing.

The school’s enrollment is relatively small for a PK–8 building, and the student body is predominantly white, with a small Hispanic presence and very small shares of multiracial and American Indian students. About two out of every five students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places this school in the middle range of economic need compared to other districts in the county.

On state assessments administered through the Wisconsin Forward Exam, Pittsville Elementary shows a mixed but generally solid academic picture. In mathematics, proficiency rates climb steadily from the lower elementary grades through the middle school years, with the strongest results appearing in sixth and eighth grades. The fourth-grade math cohort also performs well. The pattern in English language arts is less uniform: the school posts its highest proficiency in third and sixth grades, while fourth and fifth grades show softer results that a parent may want to explore further with the school. Science and social studies are tested in fourth and eighth grades only; the fourth-grade social studies results are stronger than the eighth-grade ones, and science proficiency is higher at fourth grade than at eighth.

Overall, when combining all tested subjects and grades into a single proficiency index, Pittsville Elementary sits above the midpoint among Wood County’s districts. That position suggests the school is performing at a level that many families in the area would consider solid, though it is not at the very top of the county.

No high school metrics apply here because the school stops at eighth grade. Students move on to Pittsville High School after completing the middle grades. The district itself is a central institution in the town, and it faced a financial referendum on the November 2024 ballot, though the outcome was not confirmed in publicly available material. The school board’s adopted goals for the 2024–2025 year included educating the public about the referendum’s financial facts and exploring supplemental revenue strategies, which points to ongoing budget pressures that could affect district operations and local property taxes over time.

The school’s setting is deeply rural, with extensive parks and public lands surrounding the community. The original downtown experienced historic fires that pushed commerce to the highway corridor, and the school building itself sits on a short street called Elementary Avenue, reflecting its place in the town’s fabric. Families considering Pittsville Elementary should expect a small-school environment where students progress through all elementary and middle grades in one building, with the academic performance showing some year-to-year variation in literacy and a steadier trend in math. The district’s financial context is worth monitoring, as future resource decisions could shape programming.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 359%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 2 pts above state median · ▲ 5 pts above county median

Grade 463%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 568%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 17 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 674%

School 74% · District 74%

▲ 21 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 70%

▲ 19 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 356%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 3 pts above state median · ▲ 4 pts above county median

Grade 441%

School 41% · District 41%

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Grade 535%

School 35% · District 35%

▼ 15 pts below state median · ▼ 12 pts below county median

Grade 658%

School 58% · District 58%

▲ 5 pts above state median · ▲ 6 pts above county median

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 55%

▲ 3 pts above state median

Grade 860%

School 60% · District 60%

▲ 8 pts above state median

Science

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 48%

▼ 3 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 38%

▼ 14 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 459%

School 59% · District 59%

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 5 pts below county median

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 40%

▼ 24 pts below state median

This schoolPittsville 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-income50%Higher-income61%11 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income23%Higher-income57%34 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income20%Higher-income47%27 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income42%Higher-income68%27 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income75%42 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income48%Higher-income74%26 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income67%Higher-income52%14 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income39%Higher-income86%47 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income60%Higher-income74%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income50%Higher-income90%40 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income33%Higher-income75%42 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income52%Higher-income90%37 pp gap