Sandburg Elementary

Sandburg Elementary, a medium-sized K-5 school in Madison, Wisconsin, one of the schools within Madison Metropolitan School District, teaches 410 students, covering grades pre-K through 5. That puts it 27% above the typical public school in Wisconsin, which averages around 323 students.

Madison Metropolitan School District runs 53 schools in total, collectively educating 25,155 students. Sandburg Elementary is one of those campuses.

On demographics, Sandburg Elementary logs that the largest single group is Hispanic at 49%, but no single group is in the majority. Beyond that, the school records 19% White, 14% Black, 13% multiracial, 5% Asian. That is noticeably more Hispanic than the county at large, where the share is closer to 8%.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Sandburg Elementary logs 40 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 10.3:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 14.7:1 average. Around 57% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. Set against Dane County (around 32%), the school's rate is north of typical.

With demographic context factored in, On a poverty-adjusted basis, Sandburg Elementary sits in the bottom 10% statewide. Predicted proficiency from the FRL regression is roughly 42.5%; actual is 25.3%, a gap of -17.2 points.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (Dane County) logs that median household earnings sit near $89,975, roughly 55% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Sandburg Elementary is one of 169 public schools in Dane County (combined enrollment of about 78,525 students).

The closest other public school is Hawthorne Elementary, roughly 1.8 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Sandburg Elementary ranks 8th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 35.1%.

The school occupies an inner-city site.

Five-year trend. Sandburg Elementary's enrollment has edged down 15% since 2018, when it stood at 481 (now 410). Hispanic enrollment moved from 41% to 49% across the same window.

Inside the community feed, the feed for Sandburg Elementary typically covers open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.