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If you had an hour of school board time for Portage High, what would you bring up?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
600
High
DISTRICT 312 · STATE 475
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·PORTAGE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 551206002284
Portage High
301 E Collins St, Portage, WI 53901 · (608) 742-8545 · Columbia County
GRADES 09–12HIGH41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL600 STUDENTS
·
allk12 Grade
Not graded
This school has no state test results for 2023-24 or 2024-25 to grade, which is common for schools that end before third grade. How grades work
Student : Teacher
13.6:1
44 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 18.8:1 · STATE 14.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
31%
183 students
DISTRICT 34% · STATE 42%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 145 | 24% |
| Grade 10 | 149 | 25% |
| Grade 11 | 164 | 27% |
| Grade 12 | 142 | 24% |
Student demographics
30%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 35% · 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
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of WI schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
32.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
58.9%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-26.5pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 32% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 59% typical for Wisconsin schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
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 Portage High
Portage High's state test result (32.4% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portage High this school | 600 | 30.5% | 32.4% |
| Edgerton High Edgerton | 593 | 30.5% | 54.1% |
| New London High New London | 660 | 29.7% | 61.6% |
| Mayville Junior-Senior High Mayville | 486 | 32.1% | 56.0% |
| Ripon High Ripon | 426 | 30.8% | 50.7% |
| Seymour High Seymour | 590 | 29.2% | 31.1% |
Matched among Wisconsin high 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 Portage High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Columbia County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 32.4% | #336 of 402 | #8 of 8 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 600 | #154 of 532 | #1 of 10 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.6:1 | #111 of 325 | #5 of 6 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 30.5% | #150 of 325 | #1 of 6 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 30.5% | #252 of 418 | #4 of 8 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -23.8% | #23 of 203 | #1 of 6 |
Ranked against other public high 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
600
-160 (-21%) vs 2020
+23% since 1990-91, when it was 486
Student : Teacher
13.6:1
was 14.6:1
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 | 600 | 44.2 | 13.6:1 | 31% (183) |
| 2023-24 | 647 | 48.4 | 13.4:1 | 0% (3) |
| 2022-23 | 706 | 48.1 | 14.7:1 | 32% (224) |
| 2020-21 | 760 | 52 | 14.6:1 | 34% (259) |
| 2017-18 | 787 | 51.8 | 15.2:1 | 26% (206) |
| 2015-16 | 806 | 49 | 16.4:1 | 33% (268) |
| 2010-11 | 791 | 53 | 14.9:1 | 24% (187) |
| 2000-01 | 904 | 65 | 13.9:1 | 21% (193) |
| 1990-91 | 486 | 36 | 13.5:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Portage High.
Since 2017-18: students down 24% (787 to 600); teachers down 15% (51.8 to 44.2).
About Portage High
Portage High is a mid-sized high school in Wisconsin, with an address in Portage. Total enrollment is 600 students, and the grades served are 9 through 12. That is 26% bigger than the average of about 475 students for high schools in Wisconsin.
Portage Community School District is the local district for Portage High. It runs 8 schools with 1,956 students.
Portage High is 83% White by enrollment. Other reported shares: 10% Hispanic and 4% multiracial. That compares with about 91% White among all Columbia County residents. The diversity index for Portage High is 30%. For US public schools as a whole it is 70%.
Staffing at Portage High comes to 44.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 13.6:1. By comparison, the average for high schools in Wisconsin is 14.6:1. Portage High counts 31% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The average for public schools in Columbia County is similar, at 32%.
Portage High is 26.5 points below expectations on state tests, given its student poverty level, placing it in the bottom 10% in Wisconsin.
In Columbia County, where the school is located, median household income comes to about $85,351, about 26% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and roughly 5% of residents are in poverty. There are 31 public schools in the county, enrolling about 8,498, Portage High among them.
Portage High is about 0.2 miles from Muir Elementary, its nearest public school. Within five miles are 6 other public schools. Among its closest neighbors with test data, Portage High is 5th of 5 on proficiency.
NCES assigns Portage High the locale Rural: Fringe, meaning in rural territory close to an urban area.
From 2020-21 to 2024-25, enrollment decreased from 760 to 600, a 21% decline. In 2020-21, the student-to-teacher ratio was 14.6:1; by 2024-25 it was 13.6:1.
Portage High has a community page on allk12 for topics such as special education services, counseling, and support programs. You can also rate the school on this page.
Columbia County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
58,272
Census ACS
Median income
$85,351
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
26%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
31
8,498 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Portage Community School District
- Muir ElementaryElementary · 439 students
- Wayne Bartels MiddleMiddle · 422 students
- Woodridge ElementaryElementary · 201 students
- Portage Partnering PreschoolElementary · 129 students
- Lewiston ElementaryElementary · 84 students
- Endeavor ElementaryElementary · 57 students
Other schools in Portage
- Muir ElementaryElementary · 439 students
- Wayne Bartels MiddleMiddle · 422 students
- Woodridge ElementaryElementary · 201 students
- Portage Partnering PreschoolElementary · 129 students
- Lewiston ElementaryElementary · 84 students
- Portage Academy of AchievementHigh · 24 students
Other Portage High schools
One other US public school is named Portage High. Portage High is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Portage High SchoolPortage, IN · 2,163 students
Nearby schools
- Muir Elementary0.2 mi · 439
- Woodridge Elementary0.3 mi · 201
- Portage Partnering Preschool0.3 mi · 129
- Wayne Bartels Middle0.3 mi · 422
- Portage Academy of Achievement0.3 mi · 24
- DOC: Columbia Correctional Institution1.4 mi · 6
Frequently asked questions
About Portage HighWhat is the total enrollment at Portage High?
Portage High enrolls approximately 600 students in grades 09-12.
What age range does Portage High serve?
Portage High serves students from grade 09 through grade 12.
How many teachers does Portage High have?
Portage High employs 44 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.6:1.
What is the racial breakdown of students at Portage High?
At Portage High, the student body is approximately 83% White, 10% Hispanic, 1% Black, 1% Asian, 4% Two or more.
Who oversees Portage High?
Portage High is overseen by Portage Community School District in Columbia County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.