WC Wisconsin News

There were 23 American Indian students enrolled in Pierce County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 21.1% more than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Pierce County schools welcomed 7,519 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, American Indian students comprised 0.3% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 25 schools in Pierce County, River Falls High School recorded the highest enrollment of American Indian students in the 2023-24 school year, with five students.

According to the Nation’s Report Card 2022 results, Black fourth-graders in Wisconsin scored an average of 40 points lower than their white colleagues in both math and reading.

Data also showed that Black students were three times as likely to fail the reading test than white pupils in the state. The gap is even larger in mathematics, with Black students failing five times more than white students.

These achievement gaps are also reflected in graduation rates. According to recent US Census data, nearly 95% of white students in the state successfully graduated in 2021.

Meanwhile, graduation rates for Black and multiracial students lagged behind white students by 10%. Even further behind, only 71.6% of Hispanic students completed their high school education during the same period, one of the lowest graduation rates in the state.

School name	% of American Indian students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Ellsworth Elementary School	0.1%	745
Ellsworth High School	0.2%	527
Ellsworth Middle School	0.6%	348
Malone Elementary School	0.2%	477
Meyer Middle School	0.4%	731
Plum City Elementary School	2.3%	89
Prescott High School	0.5%	424
Prescott Middle School	0.4%	274
River Falls 4 Children	0.5%	192
River Falls High School	0.5%	1,082
Spring Valley Elementary School	0.6%	329
Spring Valley High School	0.6%	182
Westside Elementary School	0.2%	411