Best Public Schools in Marion, WI

The city of Marion, Wisconsin is home to two schools - Marion Elementary and Marion High, both part of the Marion School District. While Marion Elementary demonstrates relatively strong academic performance, especially in the lower grades, Marion High School struggles to meet state proficiency standards across most subjects and grade levels.

Marion Elementary is ranked in the bottom half of Wisconsin elementary schools with a 2-star rating, but has higher proficiency rates in English Language Arts and Mathematics compared to the state average, particularly in 3rd and 5th grades. However, these proficiency rates decline in the upper elementary grades, with 6th-grade scores falling below the state average. In contrast, Marion High School is ranked in the bottom half of Wisconsin high schools with a 1-star rating, and generally underperforms the state average in proficiency across most subjects and grade levels.

The disparity in academic performance between the two schools may be influenced by the stark difference in their student populations' socioeconomic backgrounds. Marion Elementary has a very low percentage of free/reduced lunch recipients at 1.2%, suggesting a more affluent student population, while Marion High has a much higher percentage at 46.04%, indicating a more economically disadvantaged student population. This socioeconomic factor, along with the higher chronic absenteeism rate at the high school level, may contribute to the divergent academic outcomes observed between the two schools.