Thurston Woods Elementary

As a low-enrollment K-5 school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Thurston Woods Elementary caters to 256 students from grades pre-K through 8, operated by Milwaukee School District. Enrollment runs roughly 21% below the state mean of about 323.

Thurston Woods Elementary is one of 155 schools operated by Milwaukee School District, a district that caters to 65,835 students overall.

On the student-mix side, Thurston Woods Elementary reports that 89% of students identify as Black, making the school strongly Black-majority; the rest is composed of 8% Hispanic, 3% multiracial. That is visibly more Black than the county at large, where the share is closer to 26%.

On the resource side, The school currently runs with 15 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 17.1:1. That figure is higher than the state norm's 14.7:1 average. Around 93% of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price meals, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is noticeably above Milwaukee County's rate of about 64%.

After controlling for student poverty, Thurston Woods Elementary tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 20.9% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 10.1%.

Zooming out to the county, the surrounding county (Milwaukee County) reports that median household income runs about $64,435, roughly 35% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and the poverty rate sits near 13%. Across Milwaukee County's 284 public schools (combined enrollment of about 122,496 students), Thurston Woods Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Glen Hills Middle, around 0.8 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 8 other public schools cluster around Thurston Woods Elementary. Among the 9 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Thurston Woods Elementary ranks 7th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 22.1%.

Geographically, the school is in an urban area.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count declined 39%: 421 students in 2018 compared to 256 in 2025. The Hispanic share of enrollment increased from 4% to 8% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio fell from 25.4:1 in 2018 to 17.1:1 today.

On the community side, the feed for Thurston Woods Elementary typically covers enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.