1
Teachers: what resource would make the biggest difference at Houdini Elementary this year?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
501
Elementary
DISTRICT 306 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·APPLETON AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550039002366
Houdini Elementary
2305 W Capitol Dr, Appleton, WI 54914 · (920) 852-5490 · Outagamie County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY22-SUBURBREGULAR SCHOOL501 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
36 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 12.5:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
34%
171 students
DISTRICT 43% · 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | 88 | 18% |
| Grade 1 | 85 | 17% |
| Grade 2 | 88 | 18% |
| Grade 3 | 81 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 82 | 16% |
| Grade 5 | 77 | 15% |
This year's kindergarten class (88) is 14% larger than its 5th grade class (77).
Student demographics
55%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 59% · 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
49.6%
WI avg 53.1% . -3.4pp since 2023
Math
55.6%
WI avg 54.8% . -3.1pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 56 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 3 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 3 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 49.6% | 55.6% |
| 2023-24 | 53.0% | 58.7% |
% 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
55.8%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
56.7%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-0.9pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 56% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 57% 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 Houdini Elementary
Houdini Elementary's state test result (55.8% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Houdini Elementary this school | 501 | 34.1% | 55.8% |
| Huntley Elementary Appleton | 570 | 33.2% | 64.3% |
| Ferber Elementary Appleton | 499 | 32.3% | 56.4% |
| McAuliffe Elementary Green Bay | 407 | 33.9% | 66.5% |
| Robbins Elementary Eau Claire | 522 | 28.0% | 61.5% |
| Plover-Whiting Elementary Plover | 448 | 38.4% | 54.7% |
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 Houdini Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Outagamie County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 55.8% | #511 of 982 | #18 of 31 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 55.6% | #480 of 992 ▼ 19 | #17 of 31 ▼ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.6% | #578 of 992 ▼ 54 | #20 of 31 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 501 | #149 of 1,157 | #8 of 37 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.9:1 | #564 of 901 | #23 of 30 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 54.9% | #264 of 901 | #11 of 30 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 34.1% | #673 of 1,064 | #17 of 35 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.2% | #343 of 664 | #15 of 21 |
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
501
-33 (-6%) vs 2020
-32% since 1990-91, when it was 738
Student : Teacher
13.9:1
was 13.7:1
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 | 501 | 36.1 | 13.9:1 | 34% (171) |
| 2023-24 | 560 | 39.8 | 14.1:1 | 32% (181) |
| 2022-23 | 546 | 36.2 | 15.1:1 | 33% (180) |
| 2020-21 | 534 | 39 | 13.7:1 | 31% (167) |
| 2017-18 | 584 | 35.9 | 16.3:1 | 23% (134) |
| 2015-16 | 595 | 36 | 16.5:1 | 29% (172) |
| 2010-11 | 623 | 35 | 17.8:1 | 26% (161) |
| 2000-01 | 631 | 38 | 16.6:1 | 18% (116) |
| 1990-91 | 738 | 34 | 21.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Houdini Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 14% (584 to 501); teachers up 1% (35.9 to 36.1).
About Houdini Elementary
Houdini Elementary is a large elementary school in Appleton Area School District, located in Appleton, Wisconsin. The school had 501 students in pre-K through 5 in 2024-25. An average school in this group (elementary schools in Wisconsin) has about 323 students.
Appleton Area School District enrolls 14,994 students in 38 schools, including Houdini Elementary.
White students account for 64% of enrollment at Houdini Elementary. Enrollment also includes 12% Hispanic, 12% Asian, 9% multiracial, and 3% Black. The school's White share is 21 points below the 86% share among Outagamie County residents. The chance that two students picked at random at Houdini Elementary belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 55%.
The school employs the equivalent of 36.1 full-time teachers, for a ratio of 13.9:1. Among elementary schools in Wisconsin, the typical ratio is 14.7:1. The free or reduced-price lunch share, often used to gauge student poverty, is 34%. Across public schools in Outagamie County, the average is about the same, 32%.
Based on its free or reduced-price lunch share, the BeatsExpectations model predicts an average proficiency rate on state tests of 56.7% for Houdini Elementary. The school posts 55.8%, within a point of the prediction.
Census estimates describe Outagamie County this way: median household income is about $85,069, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 33% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 4%. Federal data list 73 public schools in Outagamie County, with a combined enrollment of about 31,330.
Highlands Elementary is the closest public school, about 1.2 miles away in a straight line. Houdini Elementary is one of several public schools in the area, with at least 8 others within five miles. The school's 55.8% average proficiency ranks 3rd among 7 nearby schools.
Houdini Elementary falls in the Suburb: Mid-size locale category, used for schools in a suburban area outside a principal city, within an urbanized area with a population between 100,000 and 250,000.
Between 2020-21 and 2024-25, the student count declined from 534 to 501.
The discussion area below is open to posts about enrollment questions, class placement, and PTA news. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Outagamie County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
192,826
Census ACS
Median income
$85,069
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
33%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
4%
Below federal line
Schools in county
73
31,330 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Appleton Area School District
- North HighHigh · 1,635 students
- East HighHigh · 1,238 students
- West HighHigh · 1,024 students
- Madison MiddleMiddle · 929 students
- Einstein MiddleMiddle · 851 students
- Wisconsin Connections AcademyCombined · 743 students
Other schools in Appleton
- North HighHigh · 1,635 students
- East HighHigh · 1,238 students
- West HighHigh · 1,024 students
- Madison MiddleMiddle · 929 students
- Einstein MiddleMiddle · 851 students
- Wisconsin Connections AcademyCombined · 743 students
Nearby schools
- Highlands Elementary1.2 mi · 417
- Odyssey-Magellan1.2 mi · 214
- Wisconsin Connections Academy1.7 mi · 743
- Ronald C Dunlap Elementary School1.9 mi · 314
- Appleton Community 4K1.9 mi · 672
- West High1.9 mi · 1,024
Frequently asked questions
About Houdini ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Houdini Elementary?
Houdini Elementary enrolls approximately 501 students in grades PK-05.
What age range does Houdini Elementary serve?
Houdini Elementary serves students from grade PK through grade 05.
How many students per teacher at Houdini Elementary?
Approximately 13.9:1 students per teacher at Houdini Elementary.
What is the student diversity at Houdini Elementary?
Student demographics at Houdini Elementary are roughly 64% White, 12% Hispanic, 3% Black, 12% Asian, 9% Two or more.
What district is Houdini Elementary in?
Houdini Elementary is part of Appleton Area School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.