Innovations STEM Academy

Innovations STEM Academy is a minimally staffed middle-grades school in Sparta, Wisconsin, overseen by Sparta Area School District. The school caters to 90 students in grades 6 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 76% leaner than the state mean of about 381.

Sparta Area School District runs 7 schools in total, collectively educating 2,749 students. Innovations STEM Academy is one of those campuses.

On the student-mix side, Innovations STEM Academy reports that White students make up the majority at 79%; the rest is composed of 14% Hispanic, 3% Black. That is noticeably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 90%.

Looking at school resources, Innovations STEM Academy logs 5 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 16.8:1. The state averages around 12.8:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. Around 32% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. That share is lower than Monroe County's rate of about 46%.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Innovations STEM Academy performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 57.9%, the actual is 60.3%, a residual of +2.5 points.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Monroe County put the typical household earns roughly $69,467 per year, about 21% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and the poverty rate sits near 9%. Across Monroe County's 23 public schools (combined enrollment of about 6,845 students), Innovations STEM Academy is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Sparta Meadowview Middle, roughly 0.0 miles away. 6 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, Innovations STEM Academy comes 2nd of 7 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 46.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area. As a public charter, Innovations STEM Academy runs on public funding but with greater curricular and operational autonomy than a typical district school.

Trend over the last 7 years. Innovations STEM Academy's enrollment has increased 50% since 2018, when it stood at 60 (now 90). The White share of enrollment ticked down from 90% to 79% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 15.0:1 in 2018 to 16.8:1 today.

Inside the community feed, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.