Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate, West Allis WI

Original Research by School Decision on Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate

Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate is a regular public school in the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District, serving grades six through eight. It sits in West Allis, a dense inner-ring suburb of Milwaukee that grew around the Allis-Chalmers manufacturing plant and retains a working-class-to-middle-class residential character, with a mix of tree-lined neighborhoods, commercial strips, and the large Wisconsin State Fair Park on its east side. The city has been working to redevelop former industrial sites, and its population has been relatively stable but slightly declining.

The school enrolls a student body that is diverse. Just over half of students are white, with a substantial Hispanic population and smaller shares of Black, two-or-more-races, and Asian students. A majority of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that signals a community with significant economic need. The school is a regular public school; it is not a charter or magnet.

On state assessments, Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate shows a mixed academic picture. In English language arts, roughly half of sixth graders scored proficient or above, with lower rates in seventh and eighth grades, where the share of proficient students is below half. In mathematics, proficiency rates are lower across all three grades. Eighth graders take science and social studies tests as well; social studies shows a stronger result, with a majority of students reaching the proficient mark, while science proficiency falls below that level. Participation rates on all tests are very high, which means the results reflect nearly the entire student body. Overall, when compared with other districts in Milwaukee County, the school's combined proficiency across subjects and grades sits below the midpoint of the county. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand how the school supports students who are not yet at grade level in math and English.

The school's grade configuration means it has no graduation rate to report, as it serves only middle school grades. Information on special education and English learner populations was not included in the available data, so a reader interested in those programs should ask the school directly. Discipline data and course access information also were not available.

The district brief turned up no specific recent changes such as a referendum, curriculum overhaul, budget shift, or school closure that would shape a family's decision. This may simply mean the district has not had a major four-year, lasting-impact change publicly reported in the period searched.

For a family considering this school, West Allis offers a moderately walkable older core near Greenfield Avenue and the State Fair area, with a complete streets policy adopted in recent years and a multi-use trail network. The housing market in the area shows a median home value that is lower than the state benchmark, and rents are modest relative to national medians. The school is one of three intermediate schools in a district that also includes numerous elementary schools and three high schools. Frank Lloyd Wright Intermediate serves a large, economically diverse student body in a community with deep Milwaukee-area roots, and its test results suggest that while some students are meeting state standards, a substantial number are not, particularly in math. Families who place a premium on strong academic outcomes at the middle school level may want to examine what interventions and supports the school offers.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 36% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▼ 17 pts below state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 735%

School 35% · District 32% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 19 pts below state median · ▲ 13 pts above county median

Grade 837%

School 37% · District 34% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 14 pts below state median · ▲ 18 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 652%

School 52% · District 47% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▼ 1 pts below state median · ▲ 29 pts above county median

Grade 742%

School 42% · District 40% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 10 pts below state median · ▲ 15 pts above county median

Grade 847%

School 47% · District 43% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▼ 5 pts below state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Science

Grade 840%

School 40% · District 37% · ▲ 3 pts above district

▼ 11 pts below state median · ▲ 19 pts above county median

Social studies

Grade 860%

School 60% · District 58% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▼ 4 pts below state median · ▲ 22 pts above county median

This schoolWest Allis-West Milwaukee 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-income41%Higher-income71%30 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income34%Higher-income58%23 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income39%Higher-income62%22 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 6Lower-income26%Higher-income56%30 pp gap

Grade 7Lower-income29%Higher-income47%17 pp gap

Grade 8Lower-income27%Higher-income55%28 pp gap