Enrollment
260
Elementary
DISTRICT 370 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MILWAUKEE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550960001188
Holmes Elementary
2463 N Buffum St, Milwaukee, WI 53212 · (414) 267-1300 · Milwaukee County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL260 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.5:1
19 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.8:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
98%
256 students
DISTRICT 84% · 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 | 42 | 16% |
| Kindergarten | 26 | 10% |
| Grade 1 | 27 | 10% |
| Grade 2 | 28 | 11% |
| Grade 3 | 20 | 8% |
| Grade 4 | 23 | 9% |
| Grade 5 | 26 | 10% |
| Grade 6 | 27 | 10% |
| Grade 7 | 22 | 8% |
| Grade 8 | 19 | 7% |
This year's kindergarten class (26) is 37% larger than its 8th grade class (19).
Student demographics
19%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
14.3%
WI avg 53.1% . +4.2pp since 2023
Math
25.4%
WI avg 54.8% . +10.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 14 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 25 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 10 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 14.3% | 25.4% |
| 2023-24 | 10.1% | 15.2% |
% 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
16.0%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
17.2%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-1.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 16% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 17% 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 Holmes Elementary
Holmes Elementary's state test result (16.0% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holmes Elementary this school | 260 | 98.5% | 16.0% |
| Starms Discovery Milwaukee | 268 | 97.8% | 10.6% |
| Brown Street Academy Milwaukee | 245 | 95.9% | 10.3% |
| Hawthorne Elementary Milwaukee | 259 | 96.9% | 10.8% |
| Milwaukee Environmental Science Academy Milwaukee | 274 | 94.9% | 8.8% |
| Townsend Street Elementary Milwaukee | 257 | 93.8% | 6.3% |
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 Holmes Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Milwaukee County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 16.0% | #921 of 982 | #119 of 171 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 25.4% | #864 of 992 ▲ 54 | #88 of 174 ▲ 25 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 14.3% | #931 of 992 ▲ 30 | #124 of 174 ▲ 23 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 260 | #745 of 1,157 | #130 of 180 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.5:1 | #508 of 901 | #41 of 158 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 18.6% | #776 of 901 | #136 of 158 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 98.5% | #2 of 1,064 | #2 of 174 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.1% | #305 of 664 | #65 of 133 |
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
260
-29 (-10%) vs 2020
-64% since 1990-91, when it was 731
Student : Teacher
13.5:1
was 14.4:1
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 | 260 | 19.2 | 13.5:1 | 98% (256) |
| 2023-24 | 289 | 19.9 | 14.5:1 | 97% (280) |
| 2022-23 | 266 | 17.7 | 15.0:1 | 96% (255) |
| 2020-21 | 289 | 20 | 14.4:1 | 99% (286) |
| 2017-18 | 310 | 15.1 | 20.5:1 | 97% (300) |
| 2015-16 | 314 | 17 | 18.5:1 | 83% (261) |
| 2010-11 | 392 | 25 | 15.7:1 | 97% (381) |
| 2000-01 | 613 | 42 | 14.6:1 | 69% (423) |
| 1990-91 | 731 | 45 | 16.2:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Holmes Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (310 to 260); teachers up 27% (15.1 to 19.2).
About Holmes Elementary
Holmes Elementary is an elementary school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to federal school records. The school enrolls 260 students, from pre-K through 8.
Milwaukee School District is the local district for Holmes Elementary. It runs 155 schools with 65,835 students.
The large majority of students at Holmes Elementary, 90%, are Black. Next come 5% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. The county population is about 26% Black. The chance that two students picked at random at Holmes Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 19%.
Teachers at the school number 19.2 full-time equivalents, and the ratio is 13.5:1. Among elementary schools in Wisconsin, the typical ratio is 14.7:1. The school's lunch program data list 98% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The average for public schools in Milwaukee County is 64%.
The BeatsExpectations prediction for Holmes Elementary is 17.2%, and its average proficiency rate on state tests is 16.0%.
According to the American Community Survey, in Milwaukee County, median household income is about $64,435, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 35% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 13%. Holmes Elementary is one of 284 public schools in Milwaukee County, which together enroll about 122,496 students.
The nearest public school is King International Baccalaureate Middle, at about 0.4 miles. There are at least 8 other public schools within five miles. On state test proficiency, Holmes Elementary ranks 3rd in a group of 8 nearby schools.
Locale data from NCES put Holmes Elementary inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more (City: Large).
Holmes Elementary had 289 students in 2020-21 and 260 in 2024-25, a 10% decrease.
Community posts for Holmes Elementary can cover sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
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 Holmes Elementary schools
15 other US public schools in 11 states are named Holmes Elementary. Holmes Elementary is the 14th largest of the 16.
- Holmes Elementary SchoolMESA, AZ · 536 students
- Holmes Elementary SchoolClarendon Hills, IL · 519 students
- Holmes ElementarySan Diego, CA · 495 students
- Holmes Elementary SchoolNew Britian, CT · 414 students
- Holmes Elementary SchoolSPRING LAKE, MI · 409 students
Nearby schools
- King International Baccalaureate Middle0.4 mi · 159
- Riverwest Elementary0.4 mi · 244
- Carver Academy0.6 mi · 324
- Grant Gordon Learning Center0.8 mi · 1
- Cass Street Elementary0.9 mi · 312
- North Division High0.9 mi · 346
Frequently asked questions
About Holmes ElementaryHow large is Holmes Elementary?
Holmes Elementary enrolls approximately 260 students in grades PK-08.
Is Holmes Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Holmes Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
How many teachers does Holmes Elementary have?
Holmes Elementary employs 19 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.5:1.
How diverse is Holmes Elementary?
Holmes Elementary reports a student body of 1% White, 5% Hispanic, 90% Black, 3% Two or more.
What district is Holmes Elementary in?
Holmes Elementary is part of Milwaukee School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.