The top reported proficiency rate is 80% in Social studies. The lowest is 65% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Meyer Middle
Meyer Middle School serves all of the River Falls district’s sixth through eighth graders in a single building, a regular public school that sits in a mixed-use college town roughly a half-hour east of downtown St. Paul. The town’s character blends a small Main Street core, a university campus integrated into the city, and a daily outflow of commuters heading to jobs in Minnesota. The school itself draws from a community that is growing, as Pierce and St. Croix counties are among Wisconsin’s fastest-growing and sit within the Twin Cities metropolitan orbit. A 2024 voter-approved referendum will fund classroom additions and expansions at Meyer Middle and the high school, plus safety upgrades at elementary schools, and the district structured it so the property tax mill rate would not increase.
Academically, Meyer Middle posts solid results on Wisconsin’s Forward assessments. Across all three grades, math proficiency reaches a strong majority of students, with the highest share in seventh grade. English language arts proficiency also rises from sixth through eighth grade, with eighth graders performing notably well. Science results for eighth graders show a strong majority meeting or exceeding standards, and social studies proficiency among eighth graders is especially high. When compared with other school districts in Pierce County, Meyer Middle’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint of the county’s six districts.
The student population is predominantly White, with very small shares of Hispanic, multiracial, Asian, Black, and American Indian students. About a modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that is relatively low compared with many Wisconsin schools. Information on the share of students with individualized education programs or English learner status was not available, and neither civil rights data nor chronic absenteeism rates were reported. A parent considering the school may want to ask the district about special education and English language support, as well as discipline patterns, since those details were missing from the public data.
Housing in the area carries a typical home value that runs above the national median, with rents also above typical levels. The local mortgage payment versus rent comparison suggests that buying a home is moderately more expensive than renting on a monthly basis. This is consistent with a community that attracts residents who work in the higher-cost Twin Cities market and seek a small-town setting with a university presence.
The broader context of River Falls matters for a middle school family. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls dominates the local economy, and many residents commute across the state line for work. The city has a walkable downtown corridor along the Kinnickinnic River, a large park system, and outdoor recreation that includes a trout stream and mountain biking trails. The middle school sits within a district that recently voted to invest in its facilities without raising the tax rate, a signal that the community is willing to maintain and expand school capacity in a growing region.
Meyer Middle’s academic record is a clear strength, particularly in math and social studies, and the school’s performance relative to other Pierce County districts supports that picture. The school operates as a standard public middle school with no charter or magnet status, and it serves a single feeder pattern that leads to River Falls High School. The missing data on IEP and English learner populations does not indicate weakness but rather a gap in publicly reported detail that families may want to fill by talking directly with the school.
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