English Language Arts
50.7%
State avg 53.1%
District avg 47.2%
County avg 56.5%
-5.9pp since 2023-24
District avg 47.2%
County avg 56.5%
-5.9pp since 2023-24
Test scores
See how it ranks: all Wisconsin schools by score · La Crosse County schools by score
Forward Exam, SY 2024-25
All grades, all students. % Meeting or Advanced.Mathematics
59.6%
State avg 54.8%
District avg 43.2%
County avg 58.2%
+2.2pp since 2023-24
District avg 43.2%
County avg 58.2%
+2.2pp since 2023-24
Science
86.4%
State avg 50.8%
District avg 44.6%
County avg 53.8%
+23.9pp since 2023-24
District avg 44.6%
County avg 53.8%
+23.9pp since 2023-24
Social Studies
84.1%
State avg 57.0%
District avg 54.7%
County avg 61.8%
+17.4pp since 2023-24
District avg 54.7%
County avg 61.8%
+17.4pp since 2023-24
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, about 60 of 100 do math at grade level, about 86 of 100 are at grade level in science, and about 84 of 100 are at grade level in social studies. Across all Wisconsin schools, those numbers are about 53, 55, 51, and 57. Reading and writing scores are down about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 2 points, science scores are up about 24 points, and social studies scores are up about 17 points.
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 →
By grade, SY 2024-25
School score vs state average per tested grade.| Grade | English Language Arts | Mathematics | Science | Social Studies | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | School | State | n tested | |
| Grade 3 | 64.3% | 52.6% | 42 | 71.4% | 55.9% | 42 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Grade 4 | 65.9% | 52.5% | 44 | 79.6% | 55.0% | 44 | 86.4% | 51.3% | 44 | 84.1% | 64.0% | 44 |
| Grade 5 | 26.0% | 51.6% | 50 | 32.0% | 53.7% | 50 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
2-year history
All grades, all students. Spence Wisconsin avgEnglish Language Arts
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 50.7% | 47.2% | 56.5% | 53.1% |
| SY 2023-24 | 56.6% | 46.5% | 56.6% | 52.8% |
Mathematics
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 59.6% | 43.2% | 58.2% | 54.8% |
| SY 2023-24 | 57.4% | 43.9% | 58.8% | 55.4% |
Science
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 86.4% | 44.6% | 53.8% | 50.8% |
| SY 2023-24 | 62.5% | 45.1% | 55.6% | 51.7% |
Social Studies
| Year | School | District | County | State |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SY 2024-25 | 84.1% | 54.7% | 61.8% | 57.0% |
| SY 2023-24 | 66.7% | 52.4% | 62.2% | 55.4% |
How to read these scores
What is Forward Exam?
Forward Exam is the statewide standardized test administered by Wisconsin public schools.
What does "% Meeting or Advanced" mean?
It is the share of students at the school who performed at grade level or above on the test, summed across the top two of four performance levels. A higher number is better.
What does 50.7% mean for English Language Arts at Spence Elementary?
It means about 50.7 percent of students tested at Spence Elementary performed at grade level or above on the Forward Exam English Language Arts test in 2024-25. The statewide average for Wisconsin that year was 53.1%. The other students fell into the lower performance levels.
How is the state average calculated?
It is a weighted average, not a simple average of each school's number. We multiply each public school's score by how many of its students tested, add those together for all schools in Wisconsin, and divide by the total students tested that year. This way a big school with 1,500 students counts more than a small school with 50 students, which is the right way to ask "how did the typical student do this year?". District and county averages on this page use the same method, just scoped to that district or county.
Where does this data come from?
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Forward Exam. School-level All Students subgroup from the WISEdash Download Files. Headline metric is the cumulative "Meeting + Advanced" rate (top 2 of 4 Forward performance levels: Developing / Approaching / Meeting / Advanced).
How often is it updated?
Forward Exam is administered once a year (spring). Results are released by the state in the summer or early fall. We refresh this page after each annual release.