Waupun Area Junior High, Waupun WI

Original Research by School Decision on Waupun Area Junior High

Waupun Area Junior High serves seventh and eighth graders in the Waupun School District, a small city of mixed industrial, agricultural, and correctional-facility character in Dodge County, about an hour from Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay. The school is a regular public school and draws from a community where the housing market sits below the national median home value, making it a comparatively affordable place to raise a family relative to many other parts of Wisconsin.

The student body of this two-grade school is predominantly white, with a modest share of Hispanic students and small numbers of Black and multiracial students. Just under two-fifths of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that positions the school in a lower-income tier for the county. Data on special education and English learner populations was missing, so a parent may wish to ask the school about those support services directly.

State testing results from the most recent school year show a mixed picture. In math, roughly half of seventh graders and about half of eighth graders scored at the proficient level or above. In English language arts, the seventh-grade proficiency rate was similar to math, while the eighth-grade rate was notably lower. Eighth graders also took science and social studies assessments; in science, the proficiency rate was under half, and in social studies it was just under half. The state changed its cut scores in both math and ELA for this testing year, which means the results cannot be directly compared to earlier years. Overall, the school’s combined proficiency across all tested subjects and grades falls in the bottom quartile among districts in Dodge County. That is a soft spot, and a parent may want to ask the school how it is working to lift those numbers, particularly in eighth-grade reading.

Because Waupun Area Junior High only runs through eighth grade, there is no graduation rate to report here. That measure belongs to the high school. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available.

The school environment and access data does not include information on course offerings, staffing ratios, or discipline rates, so it is not possible to describe those aspects from the provided figures. Programs such as clubs, athletics, or arts were not specified in the data either.

The district itself did not have any recent major curriculum changes, referendums, or property-tax shifts reported in the search, suggesting a period of relative stability.

For a family considering this school, the main takeaway is that Waupun Area Junior High operates as a middle school in a small, affordable city. Its academic proficiency is below most other districts in the county, especially in eighth-grade English, and a parent would want to understand what interventions are in place. The school meets the basic definition of a regular public school, serves a limited grade span, and operates in a community with a notable prison-related employment base and modest housing costs. Those looking for a more competitive academic profile may find the performance numbers give them pause, while those anchored in Waupun for work or family reasons will find a straightforward, standard junior high that serves its immediate neighborhood.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 755%

School 55% · District 57% · ▼ 3 pts below district

▲ 1 pts above state median · ▼ 3 pts below county median

Grade 852%

School 52% · District 45% · ▲ 7 pts above district

even with state median · ▼ 4 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 753%

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

even with state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 838%

School 38% · District 50% · ▼ 12 pts below district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Science

Grade 841%

School 41% · District 46% · ▼ 5 pts below district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▼ 9 pts below county median

Social studies

Grade 848%

School 48% · District 56% · ▼ 7 pts below district

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

This schoolWaupun 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 7Lower-income41%Higher-income61%20 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income22%Higher-income47%25 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 7Lower-income41%Higher-income65%24 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income40%Higher-income58%18 pp gap