Patrick Marsh Middle

Located at 1351 Columbus St, in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Patrick Marsh Middle is an expansive middle-grades school that works with 581 students (grades 6 through 8), part of Sun Prairie Area School District. Enrollment runs roughly 52% bigger than the state mean of about 381.

Across the 16 schools in Sun Prairie Area School District (8,549 students total), Patrick Marsh Middle accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Patrick Marsh Middle records that the largest single group is White, at 62% of enrollment. Other groups include 12% Hispanic, 10% Asian, 10% multiracial, 7% Black. That is meaningfully less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 77%.

In terms of school funding signals, Patrick Marsh Middle shows 48 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.1:1. That tracks the state average closely. About 29% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment.

On a demographically-adjusted basis, Patrick Marsh Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 59.8%, the actual is 54.9%, a residual of -4.9 points.

In the area at large, census data for Dane County shows the typical household earns roughly $89,975 per year, roughly 55% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Patrick Marsh Middle is one of 169 public schools in Dane County (combined enrollment of about 78,525 students).

Nearest neighbor: Eastside Elementary, around 0.8 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Patrick Marsh Middle ranks 2nd on composite proficiency, above the local average of 44.3%.

The school occupies an outer-ring site.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count shrank 21%: 735 students in 2018 compared to 581 in 2025. Asian enrollment moved from 4% to 10% across the same window. Class-load math has narrowed: from 14.2:1 in 2018 to 12.1:1 in 2025.

On allk12, posts here usually surface around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.