Gifford School, Racine WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Gifford School

Gifford School sits within the Racine Unified School District, in a residential pocket of Racine, a mid-sized lakeside city with a deep industrial and manufacturing base. This is a regular public school serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, which means it offers a full K-8 pathway without the transition to a separate middle school for several years. That longer span in one building is a structural characteristic some families seek for continuity.

The school is a large one for its grade band, and its student body is majority white, with a substantial Hispanic minority and smaller shares of Black, multiracial, and Asian students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker that places the school in a moderate range of economic need for the district. The city of Racine itself has a diverse population and a mix of historic and working-class neighborhoods, with a median household income below the national average and a poverty rate in the high teens. The housing market in the area is relatively affordable compared to nearby Milwaukee and Chicago, and home values have risen at a moderate clip in recent years.

Academically, the state assessment results for the most recent testing year show a mixed picture that a parent will want to examine closely. In math, the proportion of students scoring proficient or above varied noticeably by grade level, with some grades reaching a strong majority and others falling well below half. A similar pattern appeared in English language arts, where the same grades that performed stronger in math also tended to do better in reading, and the lower-performing grades struggled in both subjects. The fifth-grade cohort stood out for having the highest proficiency rates in both math and ELA among the tested grades, while the sixth-grade cohort showed the lowest rates in both subjects. In science, the school's fourth-grade and eighth-grade results were similar to each other, landing near the midpoint. In social studies, which is tested at grades four and eight, the school posted its strongest results overall, with a solid majority of students in both grades reaching proficiency.

When placed alongside other schools in Racine County, Gifford School's overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile among the county's districts. That positioning is a meaningful signal for a family comparing options inside the county, though the school does serve a broad elementary and middle grade range, unlike many peers that might serve only one band.

The district itself has been navigating a long-running effort by the communities of Caledonia and Sturtevant to secede and form their own school districts. Referendums in those communities passed, and the detachment process has continued to be active in recent years. That situation may carry long-term implications for attendance boundaries and district organization, though for now Gifford School remains part of Racine Unified.

No information was available on the school's discipline rates, staffing ratios, chronic absenteeism, or access to advanced coursework. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report. A parent looking for a full picture of safety, teacher experience, or program depth would need to raise those questions directly with the school. The available data paints a school with a stable enrollment, a diverse student body in a mid-sized industrial city, and academic results that vary by grade and subject, with a countywide comparison that shows significant room for growth.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 343%

School 43% · District 26% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 24% · ▲ 25 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

Grade 563%

School 63% · District 21% · ▲ 43 pts above district

▲ 12 pts above state median · ▲ 37 pts above county median

Grade 627%

School 27% · District 18% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▼ 26 pts below state median · ▼ 38 pts below county median

Grade 752%

School 52% · District 26% · ▲ 25 pts above district

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

Grade 836%

School 36% · District 20% · ▲ 16 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 339%

School 39% · District 26% · ▲ 13 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

Grade 450%

School 50% · District 31% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Grade 557%

School 57% · District 29% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▲ 12 pts above county median

Grade 633%

School 33% · District 26% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▼ 20 pts below state median · ▼ 17 pts below county median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 33% · ▲ 15 pts above district

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

Grade 850%

School 50% · District 31% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 445%

School 45% · District 27% · ▲ 18 pts above district

▼ 7 pts below state median · even with county median

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 28% · ▲ 19 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 43% · ▲ 22 pts above district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 870%

School 70% · District 40% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 6 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

This schoolRacine Unified 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-income28%Higher-income44%16 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income32%Higher-income57%26 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income46%Higher-income60%14 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income18%Higher-income42%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income29%Higher-income55%26 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income60%28 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income28%Higher-income50%23 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income32%Higher-income56%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income54%Higher-income66%12 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income12%Higher-income36%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income36%Higher-income58%22 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income17%Higher-income46%29 pp gap