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How has Tainter Elementary changed in the last five years, for better or worse?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
445
Elementary
DISTRICT 200 · STATE 323
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·RICE LAKE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 551281000581
Tainter Elementary
2201 Carrie Ave, Rice Lake, WI 54868 · (715) 234-8065 · Barron County
GRADES PK–04ELEMENTARY33-TOWNTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL445 STUDENTS
B-
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 46% of Wisconsin public elementary schools
- C+Test scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- B+Beats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
- ·Three-year trend Not available for this school, so the grade uses the other parts.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Wisconsin public elementary schools
Student : Teacher
10.8:1
41 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 17.3:1 · STATE 14.7:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
56%
251 students
DISTRICT 39% · STATE 42%
Community
1
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 | 63 | 14% |
| Kindergarten | 68 | 15% |
| Grade 1 | 96 | 22% |
| Grade 2 | 67 | 15% |
| Grade 3 | 69 | 16% |
| Grade 4 | 82 | 18% |
This year's kindergarten class (68) is 17% smaller than its 4th grade class (82).
Student demographics
25%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 27% · 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
School pathway
Students here typically continue to
Based on grade levels within Rice Lake Area School District. Attendance zones can vary; confirm enrollment with the district.
Test scores
Forward Exam 2024-25 . % Meeting or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
49.7%
WI avg 53.1% . -1.5pp since 2023
Math
44.8%
WI avg 54.8% . -8.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 50 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 45 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 2 points since 2023, while math scores are down about 9 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 49.7% | 44.8% |
| 2023-24 | 51.2% | 53.7% |
% 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
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
50.3%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
43.0%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
+7.3pp
above demographic expectation
What this means: About 50% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 43% typical for Wisconsin schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Wisconsin's top nor bottom 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 Tainter Elementary
Tainter Elementary's state test result (50.3% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tainter Elementary this school | 445 | 56.4% | 50.3% |
| Parkview Elementary Chippewa Falls | 377 | 55.7% | 50.9% |
| Unity Elementary Balsam Lake | 385 | 53.2% | 54.1% |
| Crescent Elementary Rhinelander | 384 | 52.9% | 42.5% |
| Tomahawk Elementary Tomahawk | 512 | 53.1% | 57.1% |
| Spooner Elementary Spooner | 363 | 53.2% | 55.4% |
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 Tainter Elementary ranks
Among elementary schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Barron County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 50.3% | #622 of 982 | #8 of 9 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 44.8% | #667 of 992 ▼ 95 | #7 of 9 ▼ 2 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 49.7% | #576 of 992 ▼ 5 | #7 of 9 ▼ 4 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 445 | #252 of 1,157 | #1 of 11 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 10.8:1 | #121 of 901 | #4 of 7 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 24.7% | #668 of 901 | #5 of 7 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 56.4% | #319 of 1,064 | #2 of 9 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked steepest decline first | -10.1% | #445 of 664 | #4 of 7 |
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
445
-20 (-4%) vs 2020
+75% since 2000-01, when it was 255
Student : Teacher
10.8:1
was 10.8:1
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 | 445 | 41.1 | 10.8:1 | 56% (251) |
| 2023-24 | 490 | 45 | 10.9:1 | 56% (276) |
| 2022-23 | 481 | 44.7 | 10.8:1 | 52% (248) |
| 2020-21 | 465 | 43 | 10.8:1 | 56% (259) |
| 2017-18 | 495 | 41.5 | 11.9:1 | 53% (262) |
| 2015-16 | 495 | 39 | 12.7:1 | 55% (271) |
| 2010-11 | 261 | 19 | 13.7:1 | 48% (125) |
| 2000-01 | 255 | 19 | 13.4:1 | 21% (54) |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Tainter Elementary.
Since 2017-18: students down 10% (495 to 445); teachers down 1% (41.5 to 41.1).
About Tainter Elementary
This page covers Tainter Elementary, a mid-sized elementary school in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. The school covers pre-K through 4 and reported 445 students in 2024-25. Across elementary schools in Wisconsin, the average enrollment is about 323.
Rice Lake Area School District runs Tainter Elementary along with 5 other schools, enrolling 2,096 students in total.
By race and ethnicity, Tainter Elementary is 86% White. Other groups make up 8% multiracial and 4% Hispanic. A diversity index of 25% means there is a 25% chance two randomly chosen students at Tainter Elementary are from different groups.
The student-to-teacher ratio at Tainter Elementary is 10.8:1, based on 41.1 full-time-equivalent teachers. The average for elementary schools in Wisconsin, 14.7:1, is higher. Tainter Elementary counts 56% of students as eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. It compares with 41% for public schools in Barron County.
Among Wisconsin public elementary schools, Tainter Elementary outscored 46%, which works out to a B- on the allk12 Grade.
On BeatsExpectations, Tainter Elementary is 7.3 points above its prediction, a result in the middle 80% of Wisconsin schools.
For Barron County, Census Bureau data show the median household earns about $65,933 a year, 23% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and about 7% of people live in poverty. Counting Tainter Elementary, Barron County has 36 public schools.
About 1.9 miles separate Tainter Elementary from the closest public school, Rice Lake High. A five-mile radius around the school includes 5 other public schools. Tainter Elementary ranks 6th of 7 among nearby schools on average proficiency, with 50.3% against a local average of 57.7%.
The NCES locale for Tainter Elementary is Town: Remote, which covers schools in a town far from an urbanized area.
Enrollment decreased by 4% across 4 years, from 465 in 2020-21 to 445 in 2024-25.
This page is a place to ask questions and share updates about athletics, class schedules, and weather closures at Tainter Elementary. Parents, students, alumni, and staff are welcome to post.
Barron County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
46,797
Census ACS
Median income
$65,933
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
23%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
7%
Below federal line
Schools in county
36
7,199 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Rice Lake Area School District
- Rice Lake HighHigh · 674 students
- Rice Lake MiddleMiddle · 622 students
- Hilltop ElementaryElementary · 251 students
- Haugen ElementaryElementary · 83 students
- Hilltop Day Care and PreschoolElementary · 21 students
- Head StartCombined
Other schools in Rice Lake
- Rice Lake HighHigh · 674 students
- Rice Lake MiddleMiddle · 622 students
- Hilltop ElementaryElementary · 251 students
- Hilltop Day Care and PreschoolElementary · 21 students
- Head StartCombined
Nearby schools
- Rice Lake High1.9 mi · 674
- Rice Lake Middle1.9 mi · 622
- Hilltop Elementary1.9 mi · 251
- Hilltop Day Care and Preschool2.0 mi · 21
- Cameron Elementary4.2 mi · 432
- North Star Academy5.2 mi · 38
Frequently asked questions
About Tainter ElementaryHow many students attend Tainter Elementary?
Tainter Elementary enrolls approximately 445 students in grades PK-04.
Is Tainter Elementary an elementary, middle, or high school?
Tainter Elementary is an elementary school covering grades PK-04.
How many students per teacher at Tainter Elementary?
Approximately 10.8:1 students per teacher at Tainter Elementary.
How diverse is Tainter Elementary?
Tainter Elementary reports a student body of 86% White, 4% Hispanic, 1% Black, 0% Asian, 8% Two or more.
Is Tainter Elementary public or private?
Tainter Elementary is a public K-12 school, overseen by Rice Lake Area School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.