Northern Lights Elementary

Northern Lights Elementary, a mid-tier elementary school in Superior, Wisconsin, overseen by Superior School District, caters to 453 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 40% larger than the typical public school in Wisconsin, which averages around 323 students.

Within Superior School District, which oversees 9 schools and 4,041 students, Northern Lights Elementary is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Northern Lights Elementary logs that 79% of the student body identifies as White. Other groups include 11% multiracial, 3% Black, 3% Hispanic, 3% Native American. By comparison, Douglas County as a whole is about 90% White, so the school skews meaningfully less White than its surroundings.

On the income-and-resources front, Northern Lights Elementary reports 34 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 13.3:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 14.7:1 average. Roughly 15% of students at Northern Lights Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is below Douglas County's rate of about 24%.

After controlling for student poverty, Northern Lights Elementary is in the bottom 10% of Wisconsin public schools. The BeatsExpectations model predicts schools with this FRL share to land around 68.3%; Northern Lights Elementary posts 43.5%, -24.9 points below that line.

Around the school, census data for Douglas County shows median household income runs about $75,099, roughly 28% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 6%. Across Douglas County's 17 public schools (combined enrollment of about 5,519 students), Northern Lights Elementary is one campus in the mix.

The closest other public school is Superior High, roughly 0.5 miles away. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Northern Lights Elementary comes 4th of 6 in the immediate cluster, beneath the nearby-schools average of 48.5%.

Northern Lights Elementary operates from a bedroom-community location.

Five-year trend. Over the past 7-year window, the student count edged down 25%: 602 students in 2018 compared to 453 in 2025.

On the community side, the feed for Northern Lights Elementary typically covers fundraisers, lost-and-found posts, and report-card season. Contributors range from current parents to recent graduates and teachers.