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How has Columbus Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
425
Elementary
DISTRICT 248 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·COLUMBUS SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550282000321
Columbus Elementary
200 Fuller St, Columbus, WI 53925 · (920) 623-5950 · Columbia County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY32-TOWNREGULAR SCHOOL425 STUDENTS
C+
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 42% of Wisconsin public elementary schools
- B-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- C+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Wisconsin public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
34 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.2:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
35%
148 students
DISTRICT 28% · STATE 42%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other elementary schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-K | 67 | 16% |
| Kindergarten | 50 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 45 | 11% |
| Grade 2 | 59 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 51 | 12% |
| Grade 4 | 77 | 18% |
| Grade 5 | 76 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (50) is 34% smaller than its 5th grade class (76).
Student demographics
31%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 30% · STATE 54% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Columbus School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Forward Exam 2024-25 . % Meeting or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
41.3%
WI avg 53.1% . -15.0pp since 2023
Math
56.7%
WI avg 54.8% . -2.4pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 41 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 57 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Wisconsin schools, those numbers are about 53 and 55. Reading and writing scores are down about 15 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 2 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 41.3% | 56.7% |
| 2023-24 | 56.3% | 59.1% |
% Meeting or Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: Forward Exam. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
57.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.3%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+0.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 57% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 56% typical for Wisconsin schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Wisconsin's top nor bottom 10%.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Columbus Elementary
Columbus Elementary's state test result (57.0% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 4 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus Elementary this school | 425 | 34.8% | 57.0% |
| Washington Elementary Stevens Point | 443 | 33.6% | 53.1% |
| Riverview Elementary Silver Lake | 449 | 32.7% | 64.2% |
| West Side Elementary Elkhorn | 406 | 36.7% | 63.4% |
| Pineview Elementary Reedsburg | 390 | 37.2% | N/A |
| Brillion Elementary Brillion | 426 | 35.4% | 66.6% |
Matched among Wisconsin elementary schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Columbus Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Columbia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 57.0% | #481 of 982 | #7 of 9 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 56.7% | #458 of 992 ▼ 9 | #4 of 9 ▲ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 41.3% | #714 of 992 ▼ 257 | #8 of 9 ▼ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 425 | #292 of 1,157 | #3 of 14 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 12.3:1 | #317 of 901 | #5 of 9 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 31.4% | #548 of 901 | #4 of 9 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 34.8% | #658 of 1,064 | #6 of 11 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +16.4% | #61 of 240 | N/A |
Ranked against other public elementary schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
425
+149 (+54%) vs 2020
+103% since 1990-91, when it was 209
Student : Teacher
12.3:1
was 14.5:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 425 | 34.5 | 12.3:1 | 35% (148) |
| 2023-24 | 438 | 33.6 | 13.0:1 | 37% (161) |
| 2022-23 | 438 | 34.6 | 12.7:1 | 35% (154) |
| 2020-21 | 276 | 19 | 14.5:1 | 35% (96) |
| 2017-18 | 365 | 21.5 | 17.0:1 | 27% (97) |
| 2015-16 | 356 | 24 | 14.8:1 | 33% (118) |
| 2010-11 | 339 | 24 | 14.1:1 | 15% (50) |
| 2000-01 | 300 | 22 | 13.6:1 | 14% (41) |
| 1990-91 | 209 | 14 | 14.9:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Columbus Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 16% (365 to 425); teachers up 61% (21.5 to 34.5).
About Columbus Elementary
Columbus Elementary is a public elementary school in Columbus, Wisconsin. The school serves 425 students in pre-K through 5 in 2024-25. For comparison, elementary schools in Wisconsin average about 323 students.
Columbus Elementary is a school in Columbus School District. The district has 4 schools and 1,120 students.
Columbus Elementary enrolls a student body that is 82% White. The rest of enrollment is 10% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. Census estimates put the White share of Columbia County's population at about 91%. Columbus Elementary has a diversity index of 31%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Teachers at the school number 34.5 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 12.3:1. The 14.7:1 average for elementary schools in Wisconsin is higher than this school's figure. Roughly 35% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch. That is close to the 32% average for public schools in Columbia County.
The allk12 Grade for Columbus Elementary is C+. Compared with Wisconsin public elementary schools, the school scored higher than 42% on a mix of test scores, poverty-adjusted results, and recent trend.
BeatsExpectations compares each school's average proficiency rate on state tests with a prediction based on free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. For Columbus Elementary, the prediction is 56.3% and the result is 57.0%.
Columbia County has these Census figures: median household income is about $85,351, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 26% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 5%. The public schools of Columbia County number 31 and enroll about 8,498.
The next-closest public school is Discovery Charter School, less than a tenth of a mile away. In all, 5 other public schools sit within five miles of Columbus Elementary. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Columbus Elementary is 4th of 9 on proficiency.
The National Center for Education Statistics classifies the school's location as Town: Distant, meaning it is in a town some distance from an urbanized area.
In 2020-21 the school reported 276 students, and in 2024-25 it reported 425. Grade changes, mergers, or boundary shifts can explain gaps this large. The ratio was 14.5:1 in 2020-21 and 12.3:1 in 2024-25.
Questions about science fairs, picture day, and bus routes can be posted here. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Columbia County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
58,272
Census ACS
Median income
$85,351
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
26%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
31
8,498 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Columbus School District
- Columbus HighHigh · 383 students
- Columbus MiddleMiddle · 241 students
- Discovery Charter SchoolElementary · 71 students
Other schools in Columbus
- Columbus HighHigh · 383 students
- Columbus MiddleMiddle · 241 students
- Discovery Charter SchoolElementary · 71 students
Other Columbus Elementary schools
11 other US public schools in 10 states are named Columbus Elementary. Columbus Elementary is the 8th largest of the 12.
- Columbus ElementaryAppleton, WI · 88 students
- Columbus Elementary SchoolCOLUMBUS, TX · 798 students
- COLUMBUS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLNEW ROCHELLE, NY · 728 students
- Columbus Elementary SchoolCARTERET, NJ · 642 students
- Columbus ElementaryGlendale, CA · 488 students
Nearby schools
- Discovery Charter School0.0 mi · 71
- Columbus Middle0.1 mi · 241
- Columbus High0.6 mi · 383
- Fall River Elementary3.7 mi · 231
- Fall River High3.7 mi · 253
- Waterloo Middle10.0 mi · 118
Frequently asked questions
About Columbus ElementaryHow large is Columbus Elementary?
Columbus Elementary enrolls approximately 425 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Columbus Elementary serve?
Columbus Elementary serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Columbus Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Columbus Elementary is approximately 12.3:1 (34 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Columbus Elementary?
At Columbus Elementary, the student body is approximately 82% White, 10% Hispanic, 2% Black, 2% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees Columbus Elementary?
Columbus Elementary is overseen by Columbus School District in Columbia County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.