Whitewater Times

There were 134 Black students enrolled in Jefferson County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 5% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Jefferson County schools welcomed 9,364 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 1.4% of the student body to be the represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 30 schools in Jefferson County, Fort Atkinson High School and Webster Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 17 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
Barrie Elementary School	1.4%	212
Cambridge High School	0.4%	259
East Elementary School	0.4%	270
Fort Atkinson 4K	2.9%	68
Fort Atkinson High School	1.9%	876
Fort Atkinson Middle School	1.5%	462
Ixonia Elementary School	0.4%	265
Jefferson High School	1%	613
Jefferson Middle School	1.3%	373
Johnson Creek Public School	1.6%	620
Lake Mills Elementary School	0.2%	616
Lake Mills High School	0.2%	477
Lake Mills Middle School	0.8%	389
Lincoln Elementary School	2.1%	146
Luther Elementary School	0.8%	247
Palmyra-Eagle High School	0.6%	178
Palmyra-Eagle Middle School	3%	99
Purdy Elementary School	1.5%	268
Riverside Middle School	2.2%	649
Rockwell Elementary School	3%	199
Schurz Elementary School	2.5%	236
Sullivan Elementary School	1.3%	152
Waterloo Elementary School	1.1%	276
Waterloo High School	1.9%	260
Waterloo Middle School	1.9%	107
Watertown 4 Kids	1.2%	172
Webster Elementary School	4.6%	373
West Elementary School	0.4%	257
eCampus Academy Charter School	3.5%	142