Spencer Junior High/high, Spencer WI

Original Research by School Decision on Spencer Junior High/high

Spencer Junior High/High serves students from sixth through twelfth grade in a single building in the village of Spencer, a small rural community in Marathon County, Wisconsin. The school is the only secondary campus within the Spencer School District and functions as both a middle school and a high school under one roof. With an enrollment that is small enough that students move through grades in groups that feel intimate, the school offers a setting where a middle schooler and a senior walk the same hallways. The vast majority of the student body is white, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and a very small number of Asian, Black, and multiracial students represented. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a meaningful signal that the community has a segment of households with lower incomes.

State testing results for the 2024-25 school year show a mixed profile. In math, proficiency rates varied by grade level. Sixth graders tested at a level that was above half, seventh graders below half, and eighth graders reached a point where nearly two-thirds met the bar. English language arts results showed a similar pattern. Sixth graders performed at a level where two-thirds were proficient, while seventh and eighth graders each landed at about half. Eighth grade science results were lower, with just over two-fifths of students proficient. Social studies for eighth graders came in at a point approaching three-fifths. When looking at the school’s overall proficiency across all tested subjects and grades, the composite places Spencer in the bottom quartile among districts in Marathon County. That is a soft spot. A parent may want to ask the school how it supports students who are not yet at the proficient level, particularly in the middle grades where some subjects dip.

The school building itself sits in a village that is best described as compact and car-dependent. Spencer has a traditional small downtown at the intersection of two state highways, but most residents commute by car, and the average commute time is typical of a rural area. The village population has been modestly declining in recent years, which may be relevant to a family considering whether the school’s enrollment will hold steady or shrink further. Housing values in the area are well below the state median, which reflects the rural, working-class character of the community. The district’s website did not turn up any recent major changes such as a referendum, boundary shift, or program addition, so families should not expect any recent disruption or new initiative that would alter the school’s day-to-day operations.

For a family looking at this school, the main takeaway is that it offers a single, unified path from late elementary through high school in a small-town setting where students are known. The academic results are inconsistent. The lower elementary grades are stronger than the middle grades in both math and reading, and the high school level testing data was not available in a way that shows a single senior-year picture, so it is harder to assess how students finish. The graduation rate was also not reported in the available data. Without that metric, a parent considering this school for a high schooler may want to ask directly what share of students graduate in four years and how many pursue college, trade school, or work after leaving. The school’s placement in the bottom tier of county districts on overall proficiency is a signal worth investigating further, but the small class sizes and the fact that most students are white and from a rural, lower-to-middle-income area mean the context is specific to this place. This is not a school with broad program options or a wide array of course pathways, but for a family that values a small, known environment in a quiet village, it may be a reasonable fit worth exploring in person.

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Academic performance

State test results and graduation outcomes.

Graduation rate (ACGR)

>=90%Cohort of 43 students · Class of 2021

The federal source publishes a banded range instead of an exact rate when the graduating cohort is small enough that an exact number could risk identifying individual students.

How this school compares to all schools in this state

Each dot is one school’s SY 2020-21 graduation rate, binned by integer rate. Taller columns mean more schools at that rate. This school is highlighted.

528 schools plotted. 25 additional schools' rates are federally suppressed and not shown. Data: EDFacts SY 2020-21.

Math

Grade 651%

School 51% · District 50% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 48%

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

Grade 863%

School 63% · District 60% · ▲ 3 pts above district

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

English language arts

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 65% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50%

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

Grade 849%

School 49% · District 47% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 842%

School 42% · District 40% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 858%

School 58% · District 55% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

This schoolSpencer 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 6Lower-income46%Higher-income76%31 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income55%Higher-income48%6 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income42%Higher-income54%12 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income42%Higher-income56%14 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income36%Higher-income52%15 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income47%Higher-income75%28 pp gap