WC Wisconsin News

There were 36 Black students enrolled in Clark County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 2.7% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Clark County schools welcomed 4,594 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.8% of the student body to be the fourth most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 21 schools in Clark County, Neillsville High School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with 10 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 Black students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Abbotsford Elementary School	0.5%	406
Abbotsford Middle/Senior High School	0.8%	401
Colby High School	1%	299
Greenwood Elementary School	2.1%	195
Greenwood High School	0.7%	155
Loyal Elementary School	1%	205
Loyal Middle School	0.9%	106
Neillsville Elementary School	1.2%	406
Neillsville High School	4.1%	242
Neillsville Middle School	1.2%	174
Owen-Withee Elementary School	0.5%	216
Owen-Withee High School	0.8%	131
Owen-Withee Junior High School	0.9%	109