Tomah Middle, Tomah WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Tomah Middle

Tomah Middle serves sixth through eighth graders in the Tomah Area School District, a district that is among the largest in Wisconsin by geography. The school sits in Tomah, a small city that functions as a regional hub where Interstates 90 and 94 meet, mixing residential neighborhoods with industrial parks, distribution centers, and healthcare campuses. The city has a traditional downtown along Superior Avenue, with the public library and city hall, and 11 parks plus a recreation trail. Housing values in the area are below the state median, and the school district’s school board recently passed a budget that reduced the property tax rate, a financial factor families should note.

The middle school enrolls a large student body for a grade 6-8 building, drawn from Tomah and the surrounding rural areas of the district. The student population is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic, two or more races, American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, and Asian students. Just under half of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating a moderate level of economic need.

On state assessments, the school’s results show a pattern that parents will want to examine closely. In math, proficiency rates vary by grade: they are lowest in sixth grade, higher in seventh grade, and sit in between in eighth grade. In English language arts, the seventh-grade cohort scored at a level where half of students met the proficiency bar, while the sixth and eighth grades were slightly below that mark. Eighth-grade science results are similar to that grade’s math performance. The strongest showing comes in eighth-grade social studies, where more than half of students met proficiency. Across all tested subjects and grades, the school’s overall proficiency index falls below the midpoint when compared to other districts in Monroe County. The comparison set is small — four districts — so the relative position is a rough guide rather than a precise ranking. Participation rates on all tests were very high, which means the results reflect nearly the entire student body, not a selective subset.

Because Tomah Middle is a middle school only, there is no graduation rate to report here. That metric applies to the high school level. The school’s chronic absenteeism data is not available, so families interested in attendance patterns should ask the school directly for that information.

The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet. The district as a whole operates seven elementary schools, the middle school, a high school, an alternative school, and a Montessori public charter for younger grades. A family moving into the area should note that the district’s large geography means bus rides can be long for students living in the more remote parts of the attendance zone.

Tomah Middle offers what a parent would expect from a mid-sized public middle school in a regional hub community. The state test results suggest that while some grade-level cohorts perform at or near the state benchmark in certain subjects, the school as a whole faces challenges, particularly in math and in maintaining consistent proficiency across all three grades. A family considering this school will want to visit, ask about how the school addresses the weaker areas, and understand how the curriculum and support structures differ for each grade level. The reduced property tax rate and the stable local economy anchored by healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution jobs may appeal to families looking for a lower-cost area with a solid public school system that has room for improvement.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 634%

School 34% · District 36% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 19 pts below state median

Grade 748%

School 48% · District 47%

▼ 6 pts below state median

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 43% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median

English language arts

Grade 644%

School 44% · District 46% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 9 pts below state median

Grade 750%

School 50% · District 50%

▼ 2 pts below state median

Grade 844%

School 44% · District 44% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Science

Grade 843%

School 43% · District 43% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 8 pts below state median

Social studies

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 53% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median

This schoolTomah 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 6Lower-income29%Higher-income58%29 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income39%Higher-income56%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income51%15 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income23%Higher-income45%22 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income37%Higher-income54%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income36%Higher-income49%13 pp gap