Waunakee Prairie Elementary

Waunakee Prairie Elementary, a well-populated elementary-level community in Waunakee, Wisconsin, overseen by Waunakee Community School District, instructs 531 students, covering grades K through 4. Compared to the state average of about 323 students per school, that is 64% bigger than typical.

Within Waunakee Community School District, which oversees 7 schools and 4,415 students, Waunakee Prairie Elementary is one campus in the system.

Demographically, Waunakee Prairie Elementary logs that 83% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder consists of 6% Hispanic, 5% multiracial, 4% Asian, 2% Black.

On the income-and-resources front, Waunakee Prairie Elementary records 44 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 12.2:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 14.7:1 average. Roughly 5% of students at Waunakee Prairie Elementary qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. That share is south of Dane County's rate of about 32%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Waunakee Prairie Elementary sits in the middle band of the BeatsExpectations distribution. Schools with this campus's student mix typically land near 74.4%; this one delivers 71.7%.

In the broader community, census data for Dane County shows the typical household earns roughly $89,975 per year, about 55% of the adult population holds a bachelor's degree or above, and census figures put the poverty rate at about 5%. Across Dane County's 169 public schools (combined enrollment of about 78,525 students), Waunakee Prairie Elementary is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Waunakee High, around 1.1 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 6 other public schools cluster around Waunakee Prairie Elementary. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Waunakee Prairie Elementary ranks 5th on composite proficiency, above the local average of 64.7%.

The school occupies a suburban site.

Looking at the recent track record. Waunakee Prairie Elementary's enrollment has ticked down 10% since 2018, when it stood at 589 (now 531). White enrollment moved from 87% to 83% across the same window.

Within the allk12 community for this school, members of the Waunakee Prairie Elementary community share and discuss open house dates, ride-share offers, and field-trip permission slips. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.