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If you had an hour of school board time for Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
384
Elementary
DISTRICT 370 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MILWAUKEE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550960001191
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary
7900 W Acacia St, Milwaukee, WI 53223 · (414) 393-3800 · Milwaukee County
GRADES PK–08ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL384 STUDENTS
F
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 1% of Wisconsin public elementary schools
- FTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Wisconsin public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
16.0:1
24 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 16.8:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
92%
354 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 | 21 | 5% |
| Kindergarten | 32 | 8% |
| Grade 1 | 34 | 9% |
| Grade 2 | 39 | 10% |
| Grade 3 | 38 | 10% |
| Grade 4 | 45 | 12% |
| Grade 5 | 45 | 12% |
| Grade 6 | 39 | 10% |
| Grade 7 | 44 | 11% |
| Grade 8 | 47 | 12% |
This year's kindergarten class (32) is 32% smaller than its 8th grade class (47).
Student demographics
32%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
8.4%
WI avg 53.1% . +1.6pp since 2023
Math
10.2%
WI avg 54.8% . +4.5pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 8 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 10 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 4 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 8.4% | 10.2% |
| 2023-24 | 6.8% | 5.7% |
% 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
9.1%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
21.1%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-12.0pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 9% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 21% 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 Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary's state test result (9.1% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary this school | 384 | 92.2% | 9.1% |
| Kluge Elementary Milwaukee | 301 | 92.7% | 13.8% |
| Barton Elementary Milwaukee | 283 | 90.5% | 14.1% |
| Thoreau Elementary Milwaukee | 353 | 95.8% | 13.6% |
| Bruce Elementary Milwaukee | 270 | 94.8% | 15.8% |
| Engleburg Elementary Milwaukee | 286 | 87.4% | 15.6% |
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 Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Milwaukee County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 9.1% | #967 of 982 | #158 of 171 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 10.2% | #945 of 992 ▲ 33 | #137 of 174 ▲ 25 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 8.4% | #968 of 992 ▲ 14 | #154 of 174 ▲ 11 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 384 | #385 of 1,157 | #68 of 180 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 16.0:1 | #767 of 901 | #86 of 158 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 32.2% | #534 of 901 | #107 of 158 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 92.2% | #42 of 1,064 | #37 of 174 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -31.2% | #76 of 664 | #24 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
384
-122 (-24%) vs 2020
-46% since 1990-91, when it was 710
Student : Teacher
16.0:1
was 13.0:1
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 | 384 | 24 | 16.0:1 | 92% (354) |
| 2023-24 | 414 | 23.7 | 17.5:1 | 92% (382) |
| 2022-23 | 429 | 28.2 | 15.2:1 | 91% (390) |
| 2020-21 | 506 | 39 | 13.0:1 | 97% (490) |
| 2017-18 | 558 | 32.1 | 17.4:1 | 97% (543) |
| 2015-16 | 535 | 31 | 17.3:1 | 89% (474) |
| 2010-11 | 562 | 40 | 14.1:1 | 79% (444) |
| 2000-01 | 553 | 43 | 12.9:1 | 69% (381) |
| 1990-91 | 710 | 38 | 18.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 31% (558 to 384); teachers down 25% (32.1 to 24).
About Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary is a public elementary school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Students in pre-K through 8 attend the school, which enrolls 384 students.
Milwaukee School District enrolls 65,835 students, and its 155 schools include Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary.
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary's enrollment is 82% Black. The school is also 6% Asian, 6% Hispanic, and 5% multiracial. That is higher than the 26% Black share among all Milwaukee County residents. Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary's diversity index is 32%, against a US figure of 70%.
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary's 24 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 16.0:1. On average, elementary schools in Wisconsin have 14.7:1, compared with 16.0:1 here. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 92%. The 64% average for public schools in Milwaukee County is 28 points lower.
Measured against Wisconsin public elementary schools, Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary receives an F. The grade weighs proficiency most heavily, then how results compare with what the school's low-income share predicts, then the three-year change.
The model predicts 21.1% for a school in Wisconsin with Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary's free or reduced-price lunch share. Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary posts 9.1%.
Among Milwaukee County residents, the median household income is $64,435, about 35% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 13%. Besides Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary, Milwaukee County has 283 other public schools.
Nearest public school: Morse Mid, about 0.1 miles away. Within five miles are at least 8 other public schools. Compared with its nearest neighbors, Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary ranks 8th of 8 on average proficiency.
NCES assigns Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary the locale City: Large, meaning inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary's enrollment declined from 506 in 2020-21 to 384 in 2024-25. From 2020-21 to 2024-25, the ratio rose from 13.0:1 to 16.0:1.
Posts about school events, clubs, and volunteer needs are welcome on this page. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
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
Nearby schools
- Morse Mid0.1 mi · 383
- Stuart Elementary0.7 mi · 322
- Bruce Elementary0.7 mi · 270
- Darrell Lynn Hines Academy0.8 mi · 180
- James Madison Academic Campus0.8 mi · 468
- Milwaukee Scholars Charter School0.9 mi · 696
Frequently asked questions
About Milwaukee Sign Language ElementaryHow many students attend Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary?
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary enrolls approximately 384 students in grades PK-08.
Is Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-08.
How many teachers does Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary have?
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary employs 24 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 16.0:1.
What is the student diversity at Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary?
Student demographics at Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary are roughly 1% White, 6% Hispanic, 82% Black, 6% Asian, 5% Two or more.
What district is Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary in?
Milwaukee Sign Language Elementary is part of Milwaukee School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.