Wausau Schools Recognized in Report

The Institute for Reforming Government (IRG) recently released a 'Wausau Wins: How Wausau Became a Wisconsin Education Leader' report which highlights several standout education performance in the city. The report details how Wausau’s public and private schools are among Wisconsin’s best.

“Wausau is among Wisconsin’s leaders in education,” said Quinton Klabon, Senior Research Director at the Institute for Reforming Government. “Home to some of Wisconsin’s best schools, Wausau is succeeding in literacy, pandemic recovery, and fiscal responsibility. Businesses and families should look to become part of the city’s success story.”

Read the full report here.

A few takeaways from the report:

In Wausau schools, suspension counts have dropped to pre-pandemic levels, attendance is better than across Wisconsin as a whole, the four-year graduation rate is the highest it’s been in decades. Additionally, 50.5% of graduates enroll in a two- or four-year college program, and 4.8% of graduates have participated in a youth apprenticeship, leaving high school ready to join a skilled trade.

Despite facing the same statewide trend of lower overall enrollment, Wausau schools are doing an excellent job, comparatively, at managing their lower amount of taxpayer dollars. Wausau sold two buildings to nearby private schools to consolidate and allow for other districts to expand. The private and public schools in the Wausau area have learned how to work together to expand, unlike many other cities in the state. Additionally, the area’s private schools have barely seen a dip in enrollment, or have even increased enrollment.

Wausau schools garner similar proficiency levels as wealthy suburbs of Wisconsin’s biggest cities (Verona, Wauwatosa, West De Pere, etc.). However, when comparing the poverty levels in Wausau to those cities, it makes the proficiency rates in Wausau schools that much more impressive. Wausau is also executing new reading reforms to increase these proficiency levels even more, including implementation of a reading curriculum intended to increase reading stamina, build students’ background knowledge in other subjects, and reduce teacher burnout. Wausau schools have also taken steps towards retraining teachers on early literacy.

Since the Department of Public Instruction started tracking data in 2016-2017, Wausau ranks fifth among the 25 biggest districts in the state for fiscally responsible staffing. Also among the 25 biggest school districts in the state, Wausau ranks within the top 12 for each of the following factors:

• Reading overperformance (8th)
• Math overperformance (12th)
• Graduation (5th), college (8th)
• Youth apprenticeship (10th)
• Attendance (8th)
• Discipline (7th)
• Enrollment retention (7th)
• Fiscal responsibility (5th)

Taylor Thelen, Marketing and Workforce Development intern at the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce, contributed to this post.