The top reported proficiency rate is 67% in Math. The lowest is 50% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Sugar Camp Elementary
Sugar Camp Elementary serves its students from prekindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school within the Three Lakes School District. The school is located on Camp Four Road in Rhinelander, a city that functions as the commercial, industrial, medical, and recreational hub for Wisconsin’s Northwoods region. Families who enroll here are choosing a small, rural school environment with a student body that is predominantly white, a detail that reflects the surrounding community's demographics.
State testing data for the most recent school year presents a mixed picture that varies noticeably by grade. In mathematics, performance spans a wide range. Proficiency rates climb substantially in the upper elementary grades, particularly in sixth grade, where a very large majority of students met or exceeded the state standard, a strong showing. Fifth-grade math proficiency was lower, and fourth-grade math proficiency was at about the midpoint. English language arts results also show a spread. Reading and writing proficiency rates were again highest in the upper grades, with fifth and sixth graders posting strong results, while fourth-grade ELA proficiency was lower. Science and social studies are assessed only at the fourth-grade level in Wisconsin. On those exams, the fourth-grade class showed moderate proficiency in science and a solid showing in social studies, where a clear majority met the standard. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency across subjects and grades sits just below the midpoint when compared with other districts in Oneida County. The small size of tested cohorts in each grade means a single year’s figures can shift more than they would in a larger school, so a parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand year-to-year consistency.
Roughly three in ten students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is fairly modest and suggests the school draws from a mix of household incomes. The school is not a charter school, and its Title I status was not reported in the available data, so it is not clear whether the school receives federal funds directed at high-poverty student populations. Information on special education and English learner enrollment was also absent from the data, making it impossible to assess those dimensions of student support.
Housing in the area carries a home value that sits below the statewide median, which may be a practical consideration for families looking to relocate. Rental costs are such that a typical rent consumes a modest share of household income, and the estimated monthly mortgage payment is notably higher than the typical rent, a dynamic common in many housing markets.
Because the school ends at sixth grade, there is no graduation rate to report, which is expected for an elementary school. No data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing ratios, or course access was available in this profile, leaving gaps in what a family can learn about school climate and resource allocation. The district itself did not have recent parent-relevant changes, such as referenda or curriculum shifts, to report from the researched period.
For a family seeking a small, rural elementary school in a Northwoods community with wide variation in academic performance across grades, Sugar Camp Elementary is a place that warrants a closer look at the specific classroom experience a child would enter. The school’s strong sixth-grade results in both math and reading are a clear point of strength, while the lower middle-grade numbers suggest a parent may want to ask the school about instructional approaches or support structures in place for students in earlier elementary years.
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