New Century School, Verona WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on New Century School

New Century School is a small public charter elementary school in Verona, Wisconsin, serving kindergarten through grade five. It operates as a school of choice within the Verona Area School District, meaning enrollment is not simply a matter of neighborhood attendance boundaries. The school is housed on the same Main Street corridor as the district office, in a fast-growing suburban city that has been reshaped by the expansion of Epic Systems Corporation, the medical-software giant headquartered there.

The student body is small and notably homogenous in economic terms. A modest share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure well below typical district and state levels. Racially, the student population is predominantly white, with a small number of students who identify as Asian, Hispanic, or of two or more races and a very small number of Black or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students. Data on the share of students receiving special education services or classified as English learners was not available; a parent considering the school may want to ask the school directly about how it supports those populations, if that matters to their child’s needs.

On state assessments, New Century School’s academic performance is strong. In mathematics, proficiency rates for each tested grade were well above typical levels. In English language arts, results were similarly high across grades three through five. Science and social studies, tested only in grade four, showed very high proficiency rates. Participation in testing was complete, which strengthens the reliability of these results. Compared to other districts in Dane County, New Century’s overall proficiency index places it in the top quartile of schools. This is a clear strength.

Because the school only goes through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate or high school-level outcome data to report. That is a function of the grade band, not a judgment on the school. Families looking ahead to middle and high school would be considering the district’s other schools.

The Verona housing market reflects the area’s growth and affluence. Home values are elevated relative to state and national medians, and rents are high. The city has seen steady population growth, driven in large part by the Epic campus, which draws a professional workforce. The median household income is high, and the poverty rate is very low. The community is car-dependent, with most residents commuting alone, though recreational trails like the Sugar River State Trail add a non-vehicular option.

The district brief turned up no recent major changes of the sort that would alter the school’s direction or options for families.

For a parent, New Century School offers a small, stable elementary setting with strong academic results on state tests. The student body is economically and racially more uniform than the district as a whole, which may or may not match a family’s preference. The high-proficiency numbers are a clear draw. The biggest practical consideration is the housing market: living in Verona and accessing this charter school comes with a significant cost of entry. Families who do not live in the district would need to check whether this school is open to open enrollment from outside Verona, and if so, what the process and timeline are, as that information is not detailed in the data here.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 360%

School 60% · District 59% · ▲ 1 pts above district

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

Grade 486%

School 86% · District 65% · ▲ 21 pts above district

▲ 32 pts above state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 59% · ▲ 16 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 375%

School 75% · District 58% · ▲ 17 pts above district

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

Grade 471%

School 71% · District 66% · ▲ 5 pts above district

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

Grade 575%

School 75% · District 61% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 24 pts above state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

Science

Grade 491%

School 91% · District 59% · ▲ 32 pts above district

▲ 39 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 486%

School 86% · District 74% · ▲ 12 pts above district

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

This schoolVerona 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.