Salem Elementary, Salem WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Salem Elementary

Salem Elementary serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade in a single building, meaning children can move from their first year of school straight through to the start of high school without changing campuses. The school sits within the Salem School District, which, from publicly available information, has not undertaken any recent major referendums, curriculum overhauls, or property tax shifts that would mark a clear directional change for families tracking the district's trajectory.

The community context requires a note of caution. The Salem referenced in the available web research is a rural township in Pierce County, Wisconsin, a different area entirely from the Salem in Kenosha County where this school is located. The locale data that exists describes a place with a sparse population, an agricultural base, and little commercial development, but that information belongs to a different Salem. A parent or resident considering this school should rely on the school's own address in Kenosha County, which places it in a more populated and developed corridor of southeastern Wisconsin, near the state line with Illinois. Beyond that, drawing any further conclusions about the town itself from the provided material would be guesswork.

What is directly measurable is the school's academic performance on Wisconsin's Forward Exam. Salem Elementary tests students in math and English language arts from third through eighth grade, with science and social studies added in fourth and eighth grades. The proficiency rates across these subjects and grades tell a mixed story. In math, performance starts below the majority mark in third grade and climbs through the middle grades, reaching a point where roughly two-thirds of students meet or exceed the state standard by seventh and eighth grade. English language arts shows more variation, with sixth grade standing out as a stronger year and fourth grade and eighth grade landing lower. Science and social studies results, available only for two grade levels, are notably higher, with roughly two-thirds of eighth graders proficient in both subjects. When the school is placed against other districts in Kenosha County, its overall proficiency index sits below the midpoint of the group, meaning a number of nearby districts post stronger composite scores. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how the elementary program builds toward those later grade results, especially the dip in eighth grade English language arts.

The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic share that is the next largest group. Just over a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a marker of economic need that is present but not dominant. The school is not a charter school and has no magnet designation; it is a regular public school serving its attendance area.

Housing costs in the area, measured by the ZIP code that covers the school, sit above both the Wisconsin state benchmark and the national benchmark, with home values rising at a rate comparable to the state's yearly increase. Affordability is a real question for incoming families, as the estimated monthly mortgage payment on a typical home would be a substantial portion of a median household income that has been modestly increasing over the past several years. Unemployment remains low nationally, and mortgage rates have been fluctuating around the level typical of the current cycle.

Missing pieces matter here. The data does not include information on special education identification rates, English learner enrollment, chronic absenteeism, or discipline. The district brief found no recent major changes, so there is no recent referendum, boundary shift, or program launch to report. No graduation rate applies because the school does not serve grades beyond eighth. For a family considering Salem Elementary, the available picture is one of a school where academic results are fairly typical for the region, with some stronger grades and subjects and some weaker ones, housed in a community where housing is not inexpensive and where the district appears to be in a period of little dramatic change.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 352%

School 52% · District 52%

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

Grade 457%

School 57% · District 57%

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

Grade 547%

School 47% · District 47%

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

Grade 655%

School 55% · District 55%

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

Grade 767%

School 67% · District 67%

▲ 13 pts above state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 65%

▲ 14 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 351%

School 51% · District 51%

▼ 2 pts below state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 449%

School 49% · District 49%

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

Grade 552%

School 52% · District 52%

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

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 63%

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 53%

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

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 47%

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

Science

Grade 456%

School 56% · District 56%

▲ 4 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 67%

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

Social studies

Grade 465%

School 65% · District 65%

even with state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 867%

School 67% · District 67%

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

This schoolSalem 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-income44%Higher-income54%10 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income39%Higher-income58%18 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income40%Higher-income55%15 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income47%Higher-income71%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income50%Higher-income55%5 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income32%Higher-income54%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income39%Higher-income57%18 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income45%Higher-income68%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income32%Higher-income51%19 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income35%Higher-income66%31 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income62%Higher-income70%8 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income56%Higher-income70%14 pp gap