Waupaca Middle, Waupaca WI - Test Scores & Data

Original Research by School Decision on Waupaca Middle

Waupaca Middle serves grades five through eight in the Waupaca School District, a regular public school sitting on Shoemaker Road in the small city that is the county seat of Waupaca County. The city mixes residential, commercial, and industrial uses, with manufacturing and seasonal tourism tied to the Chain O’Lakes driving the local economy. The school is one of several district buildings distributed within the city rather than on a single campus, and it draws from a community where residents rely on personal vehicles for daily errands.

The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic students and a very small number of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was missing from the available records, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about its special education and language support services.

Academically, Waupaca Middle shows a pattern of rising proficiency as students move through the grades. In math, the share of students scoring proficient or above increases steadily from fifth grade through eighth grade. English language arts follows a similar upward trajectory, with each successive grade cohort performing at a higher level. Eighth-grade science and social studies results are available; social studies proficiency falls in line with the stronger end of the school’s math and ELA outcomes, while science is a step behind.

When compared with other districts in Waupaca County, the school’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades falls below the midpoint of the group. This positions it toward the lower end of the county’s range, though it is not at the very bottom. The available data covers a single year, so trend information is not available to show whether the school is improving or holding steady over time.

The school environment and access data, including discipline rates, course access, staffing ratios, and attendance, were not reported, so it is not possible to describe those dimensions from the evidence at hand. The school is a regular public school with no charter or magnet designation, and its Title I status was not provided.

The district itself has been actively communicating with the community about an operational referendum, which in Wisconsin allows a district to exceed state revenue limits for ongoing school funding. Informational sessions were held in early months of a recent year at locations including the high school and several town halls. The outcome of that referendum and its dollar amount were not available from the search results, so a parent should confirm the current status of the district’s operating budget with the school or district office.

For a family, the picture that emerges is of a mid-sized middle school in a small industrial and tourism-oriented city. Academic performance is strongest in the upper grades and weakest at the entry grade, and the school sits below the county median in overall proficiency. The community is auto-oriented, with a stable to slightly declining resident population, and the school buildings are woven into the town rather than isolated. Parents with children entering fifth grade may want to look into what academic and behavioral supports the school offers at that transition point, and anyone considering the district should account for the fiscal conversation happening around the operational referendum.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 545%

School 45% · District 47% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 10 pts below county median

Grade 658%

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

▲ 4 pts above state median

Grade 759%

School 59% · District 59%

▲ 5 pts above state median

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 66% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 13 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 543%

School 43% · District 44% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▼ 7 pts below state median · ▼ 11 pts below county median

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 55% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▼ 1 pts below state median

Grade 753%

School 53% · District 54% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

Grade 855%

School 55% · District 57% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Science

Grade 854%

School 54% · District 57% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 3 pts above state median

Social studies

Grade 865%

School 65% · District 66% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median

This schoolWaupaca 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 5Lower-income31%Higher-income56%25 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income38%Higher-income63%24 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income44%Higher-income60%16 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income66%27 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 5Lower-income29%Higher-income63%34 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income44%Higher-income68%25 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income48%Higher-income67%19 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income48%Higher-income75%27 pp gap