Rice Lake Middle

Set in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, Rice Lake Middle is a roomy middle-grades school, operated by Rice Lake Area School District. It hosts 622 students across grades 5 through 8. Enrollment runs roughly 63% above the state mean of about 381.

Across the 6 schools in Rice Lake Area School District (2,096 students total), Rice Lake Middle accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On the student-mix side, Rice Lake Middle records that 87% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder consists of 6% Hispanic, 5% multiracial.

Looking at the economic backdrop, On paper, Rice Lake Middle has 53 full-time-equivalent teachers, translating to a class-load average of around 11.7:1. The state averages around 12.8:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 43% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator.

After controlling for student poverty, Rice Lake Middle performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 51.1%, the actual is 56.4%, a residual of +5.3 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Barron County shows the typical household earns roughly $65,933 per year, about 23% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and roughly 7% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Rice Lake Middle is one of 36 public schools in Barron County (combined enrollment of about 7,199 students).

Nearest neighbor: Hilltop Elementary, around 0.1 miles off. 4 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Ranking that nearby cluster on reported proficiency puts Rice Lake Middle at 4th of 7; the average score across the group is 56.7%.

The campus sits in a town-based setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Rice Lake Middle's enrollment has edged down 3% since 2018, when it stood at 643 (now 622). Over the same period, the White share fell from 91% to 87%.

In the discussion threads here, members of the Rice Lake Middle community share and discuss sports schedules, lunch menu changes, and school spirit week. Posting is open to anyone connected to the school.