Fox Prairie Elementary, Stoughton WI

Original Research by School Decision on Fox Prairie Elementary

Fox Prairie Elementary serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade in Stoughton, a small city in Dane County about a short drive southeast of Madison. The school sits in a residential part of town, a regular public school within the Stoughton Area School District. For a family considering this school, the central question is what kind of academic foundation it provides in the early and middle elementary years, and how the community context shapes that experience.

On state assessments, Fox Prairie Elementary shows a pattern of rising proficiency as students move through the grades. In math, the share of students meeting state benchmarks increases noticeably from third to fourth and again to fifth grade. Reading follows a similar upward trajectory, though proficiency rates in English language arts are lower than in math at every tested grade. Science and social studies, both tested at fourth grade, show a strong share of students reaching proficiency. When placed alongside other districts in Dane County, the school’s overall proficiency across subjects and grades sits above the midpoint, meaning its academic results are competitive within a county that includes many high-performing suburbs of Madison. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and data on chronic absenteeism was not available in the materials reviewed.

The student body is mostly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Black, Asian, and multiracial students. About a quarter of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that points to a mix of economic backgrounds but not a high-poverty school. The district has publicly reported that it implemented a new K-5 reading curriculum during the pandemic, a change that likely continues to shape literacy instruction across the elementary years. Parents may want to ask the school directly how that curriculum shift is reflected in current classroom practice and whether the recent assessment results are seen as consistent with the district’s expectations.

Stoughton itself is a community with a strong Norwegian heritage, an active downtown anchored by a restored opera house, and a manufacturing base that includes Stoughton Trailers and Uniroyal Engineered Products. The city is part of the Madison metropolitan area, offering access to the larger city’s jobs and cultural amenities while maintaining a distinct small-town character. Housing values in the area are above the state average, and the local economy has been relatively stable. The school district covers not only Stoughton but also surrounding parts of Dane County and a small portion of Rock County.

For a family looking at this school, Fox Prairie Elementary appears to deliver a solid academic experience, particularly in math and social studies, with reading as an area of ongoing focus. The upward trend in proficiency across grades suggests that students generally gain ground during their time in the building. The community is one where manufacturing and local tradition are visible in daily life, and where the public schools are a central institution. This is the kind of elementary school that fits a family seeking a neighborhood setting with above-average county performance and a clear sense of place.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 62% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 473%

School 73% · District 73%

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

Grade 577%

School 77% · District 71% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 26 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 358%

School 58% · District 61% · ▼ 3 pts below district

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

Grade 462%

School 62% · District 61% · ▲ 2 pts above district

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

Grade 567%

School 67% · District 59% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Science

Grade 466%

School 66% · District 59% · ▲ 8 pts above district

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

Social studies

Grade 474%

School 74% · District 71% · ▲ 4 pts above district

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

This schoolStoughton Area 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-income41%Higher-income71%30 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income72%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income45%Higher-income70%25 pp gap

Grade 4Lower-income50%Higher-income83%33 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income57%Higher-income83%26 pp gap