Enrollment
329
Elementary
DISTRICT 228 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·LA CROSSE SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550753000859
Spence Elementary
2150 Bennett St, La Crosse, WI 54601 · (608) 789-7773 · La Crosse County
GRADES PK–05ELEMENTARY13-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL329 STUDENTS
Student : Teacher
11.6:1
28 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.1:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
55%
180 students
DISTRICT 46% · 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 | 38 | 12% |
| Kindergarten | 52 | 16% |
| Grade 1 | 46 | 14% |
| Grade 2 | 47 | 14% |
| Grade 3 | 46 | 14% |
| Grade 4 | 49 | 15% |
| Grade 5 | 51 | 16% |
This year's kindergarten class (52) is about the same size as its 5th grade class (51).
Student demographics
58%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 53% · 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
50.7%
WI avg 53.1% . -5.9pp since 2023
Math
59.6%
WI avg 54.8% . +2.2pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 51 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 60 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Wisconsin schools, those numbers are about 53 and 55. Reading and writing scores are down about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 50.7% | 59.6% |
| 2023-24 | 56.6% | 57.4% |
% 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
OUTPERFORMING
Top 10% of WI schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
62.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
44.1%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+18.7pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 63% of students here test proficient in math and reading, well above the roughly 44% typical for Wisconsin schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations ranks schools against others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school can post high scores and still fall short of its prediction, or post lower scores and still beat it. This school clears its prediction by about 19 points, placing it in Wisconsin's top 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 Spence Elementary
Spence Elementary's state test result (62.7% proficient) is higher than 5 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spence Elementary this school | 329 | 54.7% | 62.7% |
| McKinley Center Stevens Point | 373 | 49.9% | 50.8% |
| Jackson Elementary Sheboygan | 295 | 61.0% | 54.5% |
| John Marshall Elementary Wausau | 231 | 58.9% | 43.2% |
| Franklin Elementary Appleton | 277 | 52.7% | 48.4% |
| Clovis Grove Elementary Menasha | 448 | 56.5% | 49.1% |
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 Spence Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In La Crosse County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 62.7% | #343 of 982 | #8 of 20 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 59.6% | #402 of 992 ▲ 96 | #7 of 20 ▲ 4 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 50.7% | #550 of 992 ▼ 105 | #12 of 20 ▼ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 329 | #524 of 1,157 | #9 of 21 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.6:1 | #210 of 901 | #7 of 17 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 58.1% | #230 of 901 | #4 of 17 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 54.7% | #343 of 1,064 | #6 of 20 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -16.1% | #304 of 664 | #8 of 16 |
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
329
-29 (-8%) vs 2020
-44% since 1990-91, when it was 588
Student : Teacher
11.6:1
was 12.8:1
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 | 329 | 28.3 | 11.6:1 | 55% (180) |
| 2023-24 | 315 | 29.4 | 10.7:1 | 57% (181) |
| 2022-23 | 335 | 29.4 | 11.4:1 | 55% (185) |
| 2020-21 | 358 | 28 | 12.8:1 | 57% (204) |
| 2017-18 | 392 | 31.9 | 12.3:1 | 50% (196) |
| 2015-16 | 392 | 29 | 13.5:1 | 52% (203) |
| 2010-11 | 385 | 29 | 13.3:1 | 52% (200) |
| 2000-01 | 392 | 30 | 13.1:1 | 35% (139) |
| 1990-91 | 588 | 30 | 19.6:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Spence Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 16% (392 to 329); teachers down 11% (31.9 to 28.3).
About Spence Elementary
Families in La Crosse, Wisconsin, are served by Spence Elementary, a medium-sized elementary school. A federal count lists 329 students at the school, in pre-K through 5.
Within La Crosse School District, Spence Elementary is one of 19 schools. The district enrolls 5,717 students.
Spence Elementary's enrollment is 61% White. Other groups make up 16% Asian, 12% multiracial, 6% Hispanic, and 4% Black. County-wide, 88% of La Crosse County residents are White. Spence Elementary has a diversity index of 58%, compared with 70% for all US public school students.
Spence Elementary's 28.3 full-time-equivalent teachers put its ratio at 11.6:1. That ratio is under the 14.7:1 average for elementary schools in Wisconsin. The school's rate of free or reduced-price lunch eligibility is 55%. The average for public schools in La Crosse County is 35%.
In Wisconsin, Spence Elementary is one of the top 10% of schools on BeatsExpectations, with an average proficiency rate on state tests of 62.7% compared with a predicted 44.1%.
Across La Crosse County, median household income is about $73,013, roughly 37% of adults have a four-year degree or more, and the share of residents below the poverty line is 5%. The public schools of La Crosse County number 38 and enroll about 14,903.
The nearest public school is Central High, at about 0.4 miles. Spence Elementary has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. Spence Elementary comes in 2nd of 8 nearby schools on average proficiency.
Spence Elementary is coded as City: Small in federal locale data.
A comparison of 2020-21 and 2024-25 shows enrollment down 8%, from 358 to 329. Its ratio of students to teachers was 12.8:1 in 2020-21, and 11.6:1 in 2024-25.
Community posts for Spence Elementary can cover sports schedules, lunch menus, and spirit week. Alumni can share how the school prepared them.
La Crosse County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
120,488
Census ACS
Median income
$73,013
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
37%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
38
14,903 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in La Crosse School District
- Central HighHigh · 969 students
- Logan HighHigh · 729 students
- Longfellow MiddleMiddle · 631 students
- Logan MiddleMiddle · 424 students
- Southern Bluffs ElementaryElementary · 333 students
- Emerson ElementaryElementary · 317 students
Other schools in La Crosse
- Central HighHigh · 969 students
- Logan HighHigh · 729 students
- Longfellow MiddleMiddle · 631 students
- Logan MiddleMiddle · 424 students
- Southern Bluffs ElementaryElementary · 333 students
- Emerson ElementaryElementary · 317 students
Other Spence Elementary schools
One other US public school is named Spence Elementary. Spence Elementary is the 2nd largest of the 2.
- Spence Elementary SchoolHOUSTON, TX · 686 students
Nearby schools
- Central High0.4 mi · 969
- Longfellow Middle0.6 mi · 631
- La Crosse Offsite Preschool1.1 mi · 104
- State Road Elementary1.1 mi · 284
- Hintgen Elementary1.2 mi · 210
- School of Technology and Arts I1.5 mi · 104
Frequently asked questions
About Spence ElementaryWhat is the total enrollment at Spence Elementary?
Spence Elementary enrolls approximately 329 students in grades PK-05.
Is Spence Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Spence Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-05.
How many students per teacher at Spence Elementary?
Approximately 11.6:1 students per teacher at Spence Elementary.
What is the student diversity at Spence Elementary?
Student demographics at Spence Elementary are roughly 61% White, 6% Hispanic, 4% Black, 16% Asian, 12% Two or more.
Who oversees Spence Elementary?
Spence Elementary is overseen by La Crosse School District in La Crosse County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.