Enrollment
297
Elementary
DISTRICT 375 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MADISON METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550852000927
Emerson Elementary
2421 E Johnson St, Madison, WI 53704 · (608) 204-2000 · Dane County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL297 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
10.0:1
30 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.9:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
54%
161 students
DISTRICT 48% · STATE 42%
Community
0
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 | 17 | 6% |
| Kindergarten | 39 | 13% |
| Grade 1 | 42 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 46 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 65 | 22% |
| Grade 4 | 32 | 11% |
| Grade 5 | 56 | 19% |
This year's kindergarten class (39) is 30% smaller than its 5th grade class (56).
Student demographics
70%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
46.6%
WI avg 53.1% . -1.9pp since 2023
Math
41.1%
WI avg 54.8% . -8.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 47 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 41 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 8 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 46.6% | 41.1% |
| 2023-24 | 48.5% | 49.2% |
% 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
49.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.4%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+4.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 49% 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 Emerson Elementary
Emerson Elementary's state test result (49.1% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emerson Elementary this school | 297 | 54.2% | 49.1% |
| Orchard Ridge Elementary Madison | 265 | 52.1% | 43.8% |
| Hoover Elementary New Berlin | 335 | 56.1% | 42.5% |
| Red Apple School Racine | 354 | 59.3% | 35.2% |
| Gompers Elementary Madison | 217 | 49.3% | 45.1% |
| Lowell Elementary Madison | 329 | 44.7% | 56.2% |
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 Emerson Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Dane County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 49.1% | #632 of 982 | #54 of 74 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 41.1% | #720 of 992 ▼ 81 | #55 of 74 ▼ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 46.6% | #623 of 992 ▼ 1 | #55 of 74 ▼ 3 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 297 | #627 of 1,157 | #69 of 93 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.0:1 | #48 of 901 | #9 of 83 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 70.2% | #77 of 901 | #15 of 83 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.2% | #346 of 1,064 | #13 of 91 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -27.4% | #110 of 664 | #13 of 61 |
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
297
-51 (-15%) vs 2020
-40% since 1990-91, when it was 492
Student : Teacher
10.0:1
was 10.9:1
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 | 297 | 29.8 | 10.0:1 | 54% (161) |
| 2023-24 | 317 | 28.2 | 11.2:1 | 46% (145) |
| 2022-23 | 351 | 26.8 | 13.1:1 | 57% (201) |
| 2020-21 | 348 | 32 | 10.9:1 | 51% (176) |
| 2017-18 | 409 | 37.1 | 11.0:1 | 51% (210) |
| 2015-16 | 412 | 36 | 11.4:1 | 57% (236) |
| 2010-11 | 315 | 25 | 12.6:1 | 74% (232) |
| 2000-01 | 361 | 33 | 10.9:1 | 30% (107) |
| 1990-91 | 492 | 35 | 14.1:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Emerson Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 27% (409 to 297); teachers down 20% (37.1 to 29.8).
About Emerson Elementary
Students in Madison, Wisconsin, attend Emerson Elementary, a medium-sized elementary school. School enrollment was 297 students in 2024-25, in pre-K through 5.
Madison Metropolitan School District oversees Emerson Elementary and 52 other schools, with 25,155 students in total.
White students form the largest group at Emerson Elementary, 43% of enrollment. Next come 27% Black, 15% Hispanic, 11% multiracial, and 2% Asian. That compares with about 77% White among all Dane County residents. The chance that two students picked at random at Emerson Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 70%.
The teaching staff at Emerson Elementary is 29.8 full-time-equivalent teachers, and the ratio is 10.0:1. That ratio is under the 14.7:1 average for elementary schools in Wisconsin. The percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 54%. On average, public schools in Dane County report 32%.
Emerson Elementary is 4.7 points above its predicted average proficiency rate on state tests (49.1% versus 44.4%), which places it in neither the top nor the bottom 10% in Wisconsin.
County data help place the school in context: in Dane County, median household income is about $89,975, the share of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher is 55%, and roughly 5% of residents are in poverty. Emerson Elementary is among the 169 public schools in Dane County.
The nearest public school is East High, at about 0.3 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Of the 7 nearby schools with scores, including this one, Emerson Elementary is 5th on average proficiency.
The federal government classifies Emerson Elementary's location as City: Large.
The student count in 2024-25 was 297, 15% below the 348 of 2020-21.
Topics for discussion here include sports tryouts, band and choir, and theater. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
Dane County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
572,674
Census ACS
Median income
$89,975
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
55%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
169
78,525 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Madison Metropolitan School District
- West HighHigh · 2,222 students
- Vel Phillips Memorial High SchoolHigh · 2,004 students
- East HighHigh · 1,643 students
- LaFollette HighHigh · 1,541 students
- Hamilton MiddleMiddle · 790 students
- Cesar Chavez ElementaryElementary · 631 students
Other schools in Madison
- West HighHigh · 2,222 students
- Vel Phillips Memorial High SchoolHigh · 2,004 students
- East HighHigh · 1,643 students
- LaFollette HighHigh · 1,541 students
- Hamilton MiddleMiddle · 790 students
- Cesar Chavez ElementaryElementary · 631 students
Other Emerson Elementary schools
35 other US public schools in 18 states are named Emerson Elementary. Emerson Elementary is the 23rd largest of the 36.
- Emerson ElementaryLa Crosse, WI · 317 students
- Emerson ElementaryMilwaukee, WI · 187 students
- Emerson Elementary SchoolHOUSTON, TX · 990 students
- Emerson Elementary SchoolMESA, AZ · 717 students
- Emerson ElementaryRiverside, CA · 669 students
Nearby schools
- East High0.3 mi · 1,643
- Lowell Elementary0.8 mi · 329
- Marquette Elementary1.0 mi · 169
- O'Keeffe Middle1.0 mi · 434
- Isthmus Montessori Academy Public1.3 mi · 210
- Shabazz-City High1.3 mi · 106
Frequently asked questions
About Emerson ElementaryHow many students attend Emerson Elementary?
Emerson Elementary enrolls approximately 297 students in grades PK-05.
What grades does Emerson Elementary serve?
Emerson Elementary serves grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Emerson Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Emerson Elementary is approximately 10.0:1 (30 FTE teachers).
How diverse is Emerson Elementary?
Emerson Elementary reports a student body of 43% White, 15% Hispanic, 27% Black, 2% Asian, 11% Two or more.
Who oversees Emerson Elementary?
Emerson Elementary is overseen by Madison Metropolitan School District in Dane County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.