The top reported proficiency rate is 91% in Science. The lowest is 78% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Meadowbrook Elementary
Meadowbrook Elementary serves students from four-year-old kindergarten through fifth grade as a regular public school in the Waukesha School District. The school is located on the west side of Waukesha, a mid-sized city that serves as the county seat of Waukesha County and sits roughly a half-hour drive west of Milwaukee. Waukesha blends a historic downtown along the Fox River with industrial employment centers and established residential neighborhoods. Major employers in the city include GE Healthcare, Waukesha Memorial Hospital, and the school district itself.
The student body is predominantly white, with a Hispanic population representing a meaningful contingent. The share of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch is small, well below the district average and among the lowest of any school in the district, indicating a relatively affluent surrounding neighborhood. Enrollment is spread fairly evenly across kindergarten through fifth grade, with a typical-sized preschool program.
State testing results from the most recent school year show a school with real academic strengths and one clear soft spot. In math, third and fourth graders turned in very strong proficiency rates, with nearly all students meeting the bar. Fifth-grade math, however, was a significant drop-off, with only a majority of students reaching proficiency. The pattern was similar in English language arts: third and fourth graders posted high rates, while fifth graders landed at a notably lower mark. Science and social studies, tested only at fourth grade, showed very high proficiency. Overall, when all tested subjects and grades are combined into a single index, Meadowbrook sits in the top quarter of elementary schools across Waukesha County, a measure of its general performance relative to its neighbors. The fifth-grade dip in both math and reading is the most obvious area a parent would want to discuss with the school to understand what might be driving the change.
The school serves only elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and chronic absenteeism data was not available in the public dataset.
Program offerings were not detailed in the available data. A parent interested in specific enrichment, special education services, or English learner support would need to contact the school directly for current course offerings.
The Waukesha School District has been undergoing a period of notable change. Two elementary schools, Bethesda and Hawthorne, are scheduled to close in 2026, following the earlier closure of Whittier Elementary in 2022, which was driven by a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. These closures will continue to reshape attendance boundaries across the city. At the middle school level, Horning Middle School is being transformed into a STEM school and Saratoga STEM Middle School is being sold, both at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, altering the district's STEM pathway options. Families living in Meadowbrook's attendance zone should confirm what feeder patterns these changes create for their children.
Housing in the area reflects a market that is expensive relative to national norms. Home values have been rising modestly, and the rental market follows a similar pattern. The county's median listing price is well above the national benchmark, and the typical monthly mortgage payment is higher than the typical rent, a dynamic that favors renting over buying at current interest rates. The supply of homes for sale is tight, which has characterized much of the region in recent years.
For a family considering this school, the core takeaway is a largely strong academic picture at the early elementary grades, with a drop-off at fifth grade that warrants a conversation with the school. The student body is relatively homogenous in terms of family income and racial composition compared to the broader district. The district itself is in a period of structural transition, with school closures and program shifts that will affect which building a child attends beyond elementary school. The neighborhood around the school is in a higher-cost housing market, and the school's low rate of economic disadvantage reflects that.
See more original research from School Decision →