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Welcome to the Cooper Elementary community. What's one thing that would make Cooper Elementary even better?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
447
Elementary
DISTRICT 370 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MILWAUKEE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550960001144
Cooper Elementary
5143 S 21st St, Milwaukee, WI 53221 · (414) 304-6300 · Milwaukee County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL447 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
18.2:1
25 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.8:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
55%
248 students
DISTRICT 84% · 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 | 39 | 9% |
| Kindergarten | 48 | 11% |
| Grade 1 | 46 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 53 | 12% |
| Grade 3 | 50 | 11% |
| Grade 4 | 48 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 49 | 11% |
| Grade 6 | 38 | 9% |
| Grade 7 | 38 | 9% |
| Grade 8 | 38 | 9% |
This year's kindergarten class (48) is 26% larger than its 8th grade class (38).
Student demographics
74%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 66% · 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
Test scores
Forward Exam 2024-25 . % Meeting or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
55.1%
WI avg 53.1% . +1.3pp since 2023
Math
51.0%
WI avg 54.8% . -2.8pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 55 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 51 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Wisconsin schools, those numbers are about 53 and 55. Reading and writing scores are up about 1 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 55.1% | 51.0% |
| 2023-24 | 53.8% | 53.8% |
% 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
53.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.6%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+10.0pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 54% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 44% 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 Cooper Elementary
Cooper Elementary's state test result (53.6% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooper Elementary this school | 447 | 55.5% | 53.6% |
| Dr Virginia Henderson Elementary School Madison | 462 | 58.7% | 34.8% |
| Schenk Elementary Madison | 394 | 58.1% | 30.3% |
| Milele Chikasa Anana Elementary School Madison | 455 | 50.8% | 37.4% |
| Banting Elementary Waukesha | 486 | 49.8% | 56.7% |
| Burdick Elementary Milwaukee | 527 | 58.1% | 41.3% |
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 Cooper Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Milwaukee County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 53.6% | #557 of 982 | #43 of 171 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 51.0% | #578 of 992 ▼ 13 | #40 of 174 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 55.1% | #441 of 992 ▲ 67 | #44 of 174 ▲ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 447 | #246 of 1,157 | #48 of 180 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.2:1 | #849 of 901 | #129 of 158 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 74.0% | #23 of 901 | #3 of 158 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 55.5% | #336 of 1,064 | #123 of 174 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +0.7% | #226 of 240 | #33 of 33 |
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
447
-19 (-4%) vs 2020
+11% since 1990-91, when it was 402
Student : Teacher
18.2:1
was 17.9:1
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 | 447 | 24.6 | 18.2:1 | 55% (248) |
| 2023-24 | 459 | 24.5 | 18.7:1 | 68% (314) |
| 2022-23 | 461 | 23.7 | 19.4:1 | 65% (298) |
| 2020-21 | 466 | 26 | 17.9:1 | 64% (300) |
| 2017-18 | 444 | 16.8 | 26.4:1 | 56% (249) |
| 2015-16 | 421 | 18 | 23.4:1 | 51% (213) |
| 2010-11 | 429 | 23 | 18.6:1 | 52% (225) |
| 2000-01 | 299 | 18 | 16.6:1 | 69% (206) |
| 1990-91 | 402 | 21 | 19.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cooper Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 1% (444 to 447); teachers up 46% (16.8 to 24.6).
About Cooper Elementary
Cooper Elementary runs as a medium-sized elementary school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its 447 students are spread across pre-K through 8. The typical figure for elementary schools in Wisconsin is about 323 students.
The 155 schools of Milwaukee School District, including Cooper Elementary, enroll 65,835 students.
By race and ethnicity, the largest group at Cooper Elementary is Hispanic (35%). Smaller groups are 30% White, 18% Black, 9% Asian, and 7% multiracial. For comparison, the population of Milwaukee County is roughly 17% Hispanic. The chance that two students picked at random at Cooper Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 74%.
Teacher staffing is 24.6 full-time equivalents, or about 18.2 students per teacher. The 14.7:1 average for elementary schools in Wisconsin is lower than this school's figure. Eligibility for subsidized school meals is 55%. On average, public schools in Milwaukee County report 64%.
The model predicts 43.6% for a school in Wisconsin with Cooper Elementary's free or reduced-price lunch share. Cooper Elementary posts 53.6%.
Across Milwaukee County, median household income is about $64,435, roughly 35% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 13%. The public schools of Milwaukee County number 284 and enroll about 122,496.
Nearest public school: Reagan College Preparatory High, about 0.2 miles away. The five-mile area around Cooper Elementary holds at least 8 other public schools. Local comparison: Cooper Elementary ranks 4th of 9 nearby schools, at 53.6% versus a 45.2% average.
Locale data from NCES put Cooper Elementary inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more (City: Large).
Cooper Elementary saw enrollment fall 4% between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
The Cooper Elementary community page is open for posts about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Milwaukee County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
926,331
Census ACS
Median income
$64,435
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
35%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
13%
Below federal line
Schools in county
284
122,496 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Milwaukee School District
- HAPA-Hmong American Peace Academy K3-12Combined · 1,974 students
- Hamilton HighHigh · 1,472 students
- Reagan College Preparatory HighHigh · 1,372 students
- King InternationalHigh · 1,308 students
- Obama School of Career and Technical EducationCombined · 1,294 students
- Riverside HighHigh · 1,240 students
Other schools in Milwaukee
- HAPA-Hmong American Peace Academy K3-12Combined · 1,974 students
- Milwaukee Academy of ScienceCombined · 1,711 students
- Hamilton HighHigh · 1,472 students
- Reagan College Preparatory HighHigh · 1,372 students
- Bruce GuadalupeElementary · 1,364 students
- King InternationalHigh · 1,308 students
Other Cooper Elementary schools
11 other US public schools in 9 states are named Cooper Elementary. Cooper Elementary is the 6th largest of the 12.
- Cooper ElementarySuperior, WI · 363 students
- Cooper ElementarySheboygan, WI · 256 students
- Cooper Elementary SchoolLoganville, GA · 1,520 students
- Cooper ElementaryVacaville, CA · 710 students
- COOPER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBELLA VISTA, AR · 628 students
Nearby schools
- Reagan College Preparatory High0.2 mi · 1,372
- Greenfield Middle0.8 mi · 704
- IDEAL0.9 mi · 210
- Victory Elementary1.0 mi · 419
- Garland Elementary1.0 mi · 541
- Lowell International Elementary1.0 mi · 209
Frequently asked questions
About Cooper ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Cooper Elementary?
Cooper Elementary enrolls approximately 447 students in grades PK-08.
What age range does Cooper Elementary serve?
Cooper Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 08.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Cooper Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Cooper Elementary is approximately 18.2:1 (25 FTE teachers).
What is the student diversity at Cooper Elementary?
Student demographics at Cooper Elementary are roughly 30% White, 35% Hispanic, 18% Black, 9% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Is Cooper Elementary public or private?
Cooper Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Milwaukee School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.