Enrollment
348
Elementary
DISTRICT 342 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WAUKESHA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 551578002022
Prairie Elementary
1801 Center Rd, Waukesha, WI 53189 · (262) 970-2205 · Waukesha County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYREGULAR SCHOOL348 STUDENTS
A-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 84% of Wisconsin public elementary schools
- A-Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- A-Beats 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
13.3:1
26 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 38.0:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
29%
100 students
DISTRICT 39% · STATE 42%
Community
0
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 | 46 | 13% |
| Kindergarten | 41 | 12% |
| Grade 1 | 54 | 16% |
| Grade 2 | 45 | 13% |
| Grade 3 | 63 | 18% |
| Grade 4 | 44 | 13% |
| Grade 5 | 55 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (41) is 25% smaller than its 5th grade class (55).
Student demographics
47%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 57% · 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
68.7%
WI avg 53.1% . +3.9pp since 2023
Math
72.5%
WI avg 54.8% . +0.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 69 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 73 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 4 points since 2023, while math scores have held steady.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 68.7% | 72.5% |
| 2023-24 | 64.8% | 71.9% |
% 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
70.4%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
60.0%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+10.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 70% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 60% 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 Prairie Elementary
Prairie Elementary's state test result (70.4% proficient) is higher than 4 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prairie Elementary this school | 348 | 28.7% | 70.4% |
| Deerfield Elementary Oak Creek | 368 | 25.8% | 67.4% |
| Carollton Elementary Oak Creek | 376 | 31.9% | 71.2% |
| Highland View Elementary Greendale | 336 | 26.5% | 67.9% |
| Westside Elementary Kimberly | 408 | 30.6% | 63.2% |
| Summit View Elementary Waukesha | 449 | 29.4% | 69.6% |
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 Prairie Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Waukesha County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 70.4% | #186 of 982 | #40 of 56 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 72.5% | #164 of 992 ▲ 32 | #36 of 56 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 68.7% | #159 of 992 ▲ 100 | #40 of 56 no change |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 348 | #466 of 1,157 | #41 of 65 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 13.3:1 | #458 of 901 | #19 of 60 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 46.9% | #352 of 901 | #21 of 60 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 28.7% | #756 of 1,064 | #14 of 63 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +16.0% | #62 of 240 | #9 of 28 |
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
348
+46 (+15%) vs 2020
-23% since 1990-91, when it was 454
Student : Teacher
13.3:1
was 13.1:1
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 | 348 | 26.2 | 13.3:1 | 29% (100) |
| 2023-24 | 326 | 25.4 | 12.8:1 | 28% (92) |
| 2022-23 | 345 | 27 | 12.8:1 | 31% (106) |
| 2020-21 | 302 | 23 | 13.1:1 | 32% (97) |
| 2017-18 | 300 | 18.7 | 16.1:1 | 28% (83) |
| 2015-16 | 324 | 22 | 14.7:1 | 34% (111) |
| 2010-11 | 397 | 22 | 18.1:1 | 34% (135) |
| 2000-01 | 353 | 21 | 16.8:1 | 13% (46) |
| 1990-91 | 454 | 21 | 21.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Prairie Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students up 16% (300 to 348); teachers up 41% (18.7 to 26.2).
About Prairie Elementary
Prairie Elementary is a mid-sized elementary school in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Its grade span covers pre-K through 5, with 348 students on the rolls.
Prairie Elementary is one school in a 27-school district, Waukesha School District, which enrolls 10,922 students.
The student body at Prairie Elementary is 71% White. Other reported shares: 14% Hispanic, 8% multiracial, 5% Black, and 3% Asian. Waukesha County's residents are about 87% White, 16 points above the school's share. A diversity index of 47% means there is a 47% chance two randomly chosen students at Prairie Elementary are from different groups.
Staffing at Prairie Elementary comes to 26.2 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 13.3:1. Elementary schools in Wisconsin have an average ratio of 14.7:1. On the income side, 29% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is above the 17% average among public schools in Waukesha County.
Among Wisconsin public elementary schools, Prairie Elementary outscored 84%, which works out to an A- on the allk12 Grade.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Prairie Elementary is +10.3 points: 70.4% actual, 60.0% predicted.
For Waukesha County, Census Bureau data show the median household earns about $106,076 a year, 49% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 3% of people live in poverty. Counting Prairie Elementary, Waukesha County has 113 public schools.
Waukesha STEM Academy, about 1.3 miles away, is the closest public school. Other public schools within five miles number at least 8. The average proficiency across nearby scored schools is 56.2%; Prairie Elementary's is 70.4%, ranking 3rd of 9.
The school is inside a principal city with a population under 100,000, according to its NCES locale (City: Small).
Federal enrollment counts increased from 302 (2020-21) to 348 (2024-25).
Prairie Elementary has a community page on allk12 for topics such as athletics, class schedules, and weather closures. Teachers and staff are welcome to share updates too.
Waukesha County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
411,762
Census ACS
Median income
$106,076
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
49%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
3%
Below federal line
Schools in county
113
60,032 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Waukesha School District
- West HighHigh · 1,167 students
- North HighHigh · 911 students
- South HighHigh · 833 students
- Butler MiddleMiddle · 786 students
- eAchieve Academy - WisconsinHigh · 639 students
- Waukesha STEM AcademyElementary · 580 students
Other schools in Waukesha
- West HighHigh · 1,167 students
- North HighHigh · 911 students
- South HighHigh · 833 students
- Butler MiddleMiddle · 786 students
- eAchieve Academy - WisconsinHigh · 639 students
- Waukesha STEM AcademyElementary · 580 students
Other Prairie Elementary schools
14 other US public schools in 11 states are named Prairie Elementary. Prairie Elementary is the 10th largest of the 15.
- Prairie ElementarySacramento, CA · 858 students
- PRAIRIE ELEMENTARYWORTHINGTON, MN · 690 students
- Prairie Elementary SchoolLafayette, LA · 663 students
- Prairie Elementary SchoolNaperville, IL · 515 students
- Prairie Elementary SchoolOrland Park, IL · 507 students
Nearby schools
- Waukesha STEM Academy1.3 mi · 580
- South High1.4 mi · 833
- Waukesha Academy of Health Professions1.4 mi · 112
- Waukesha Engineering Preparatory Academy1.4 mi · 144
- Mill Creek Academy1.8 mi · 324
- Les Paul Middle1.9 mi · 547
Frequently asked questions
About Prairie ElementaryHow many students attend Prairie Elementary?
Prairie Elementary enrolls approximately 348 students in grades PK-05.
Is Prairie Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Prairie Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many teachers does Prairie Elementary have?
Prairie Elementary employs 26 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.3:1.
What is the student diversity at Prairie Elementary?
Student demographics at Prairie Elementary are roughly 71% White, 14% Hispanic, 5% Black, 3% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is Prairie Elementary public or private?
Prairie Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Waukesha School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.