Enrollment
410
Elementary
DISTRICT 375 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MADISON METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550852000920
Sandburg Elementary
4114 Donald Dr, Madison, WI 53704 · (608) 204-7940 · Dane County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL410 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
10.3:1
40 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 10.9:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
57%
235 students
DISTRICT 48% · 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 | 47 | 11% |
| Kindergarten | 62 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 58 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 66 | 16% |
| Grade 3 | 58 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 60 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 59 | 14% |
This year's kindergarten class (62) is 5% larger than its 5th grade class (59).
Student demographics
69%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
29.3%
WI avg 53.1% . +3.9pp since 2023
Math
24.5%
WI avg 54.8% . +4.6pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 29 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 25 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 are up about 5 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 29.3% | 24.5% |
| 2023-24 | 25.4% | 19.9% |
% 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
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of WI schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
25.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
42.5%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-17.2pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 25% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 42% 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 Sandburg Elementary
Sandburg Elementary's state test result (25.3% proficient) is higher than 0 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandburg Elementary this school | 410 | 57.3% | 25.3% |
| Dr Virginia Henderson Elementary School Madison | 462 | 58.7% | 34.8% |
| Burdick Elementary Milwaukee | 527 | 58.1% | 41.3% |
| Jackson Elementary Green Bay | 382 | 57.6% | 36.2% |
| Leopold Elementary Madison | 626 | 56.2% | 27.4% |
| Schenk Elementary Madison | 394 | 58.1% | 30.3% |
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 Sandburg Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Dane County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 25.3% | #873 of 982 | #72 of 74 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 24.5% | #868 of 992 ▲ 26 | #70 of 74 ▲ 3 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 29.3% | #841 of 992 ▲ 28 | #68 of 74 ▲ 2 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 410 | #323 of 1,157 | #33 of 93 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.3:1 | #72 of 901 | #15 of 83 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 69.0% | #99 of 901 | #18 of 83 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 57.3% | #305 of 1,064 | #11 of 91 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -14.8% | #331 of 664 | #33 of 61 |
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
410
-61 (-13%) vs 2020
+32% since 1990-91, when it was 310
Student : Teacher
10.3:1
was 10.5:1
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 | 410 | 40 | 10.3:1 | 57% (235) |
| 2023-24 | 411 | 37.7 | 10.9:1 | 62% (253) |
| 2022-23 | 392 | 40.1 | 9.8:1 | 64% (252) |
| 2020-21 | 471 | 45 | 10.5:1 | 70% (332) |
| 2017-18 | 481 | 47.5 | 10.1:1 | 61% (295) |
| 2015-16 | 466 | 44 | 10.6:1 | 67% (310) |
| 2010-11 | 354 | 27 | 13.1:1 | 71% (252) |
| 2000-01 | 371 | 27 | 13.7:1 | 29% (109) |
| 1990-91 | 310 | 16 | 19.4:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Sandburg Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 15% (481 to 410); teachers down 16% (47.5 to 40).
About Sandburg Elementary
Sandburg Elementary is an elementary school in Madison, Wisconsin, and it is part of Madison Metropolitan School District. The school covers pre-K through 5 and reported 410 students in 2024-25. That puts enrollment 27% bigger than the 323-student average for elementary schools in Wisconsin.
The district for Sandburg Elementary is Madison Metropolitan School District, with 53 schools and 25,155 students.
The largest group at Sandburg Elementary is Hispanic students, at 49%. Other students are 19% White, 14% Black, 13% multiracial, and 5% Asian. That is higher than the 8% Hispanic share among all Dane County residents. Measured by the diversity index, the student body scores 69%.
Staffing at Sandburg Elementary comes to 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 10.3:1. By comparison, the average for elementary schools in Wisconsin is 14.7:1. Sandburg Elementary counts 57% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That rate is above the 32% average among public schools in Dane County.
Sandburg Elementary ranks in the bottom 10% of Wisconsin schools after adjusting test results for student poverty. Actual: 25.3%. Predicted: 42.5%. Difference: 17.2 points.
In the wider Dane County area, the median household earns about $89,975 a year, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 55% of adults, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. Sandburg Elementary shares Dane County with 168 other public schools.
Hawthorne Elementary, about 1.8 miles away, is the closest public school. A five-mile radius around the school includes at least 8 other public schools. Among the 8 closest schools with test data, this one included, Sandburg Elementary ranks 8th on average proficiency.
Under the NCES locale system, Sandburg Elementary is City: Large.
Since 2020-21, enrollment has fallen 13%, from 471 to 410.
This page is set up for the Sandburg Elementary community to discuss special education services, counseling, and support programs. Current and former families are welcome to add their experience.
Dane County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
572,674
Census ACS
Median income
$89,975
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
55%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
169
78,525 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Madison Metropolitan School District
- West HighHigh · 2,222 students
- Vel Phillips Memorial High SchoolHigh · 2,004 students
- East HighHigh · 1,643 students
- LaFollette HighHigh · 1,541 students
- Hamilton MiddleMiddle · 790 students
- Cesar Chavez ElementaryElementary · 631 students
Other schools in Madison
- West HighHigh · 2,222 students
- Vel Phillips Memorial High SchoolHigh · 2,004 students
- East HighHigh · 1,643 students
- LaFollette HighHigh · 1,541 students
- Hamilton MiddleMiddle · 790 students
- Cesar Chavez ElementaryElementary · 631 students
Other Sandburg Elementary schools
3 other US public schools in 4 states are named Sandburg Elementary. Sandburg Elementary is the 3rd largest of the 4.
- Sandburg ElementarySan Diego, CA · 570 students
- Sandburg Elementary SchoolCENTENNIAL, CO · 495 students
- Sandburg Elementary SchoolSpringfield, IL · 279 students
Nearby schools
- Hawthorne Elementary1.8 mi · 360
- Isthmus Montessori Academy Public2.4 mi · 210
- Lake View Elementary2.5 mi · 292
- Sherman Middle2.8 mi · 400
- Shabazz-City High2.8 mi · 106
- Gompers Elementary2.9 mi · 217
Frequently asked questions
About Sandburg ElementaryHow many students attend Sandburg Elementary?
Sandburg Elementary enrolls approximately 410 students in grades PK-05.
Is Sandburg Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Sandburg Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
What is the student-teacher ratio at Sandburg Elementary?
The student-to-teacher ratio at Sandburg Elementary is approximately 10.3:1 (40 FTE teachers).
What is the racial breakdown of students at Sandburg Elementary?
At Sandburg Elementary, the student body is approximately 19% White, 49% Hispanic, 14% Black, 5% Asian, 13% Two or more.
Who oversees Sandburg Elementary?
Sandburg Elementary is overseen by Madison Metropolitan School District in Dane County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.