Math and reading levels and chronic absenteeism rates have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels in Wisconsin, as test scores continue to lag 2019 results and absenteeism rates remain sharply elevated.

At the same time, high school graduation rates in Wisconsin have steadily increased. This rate edged upward again in 2024-25 to 92%, its highest level since at least 2012.

Public school student enrollment also continued its longstanding decline in Wisconsin in the 2025-26 school year, as it declined by more than 14,000 students, or 1.7% — the second-largest drop since at least 2012.

These are among the key findings from the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s 2026 School DataTool. This interactive tool uses state data to compare public school districts on metrics that include student demographics and participation, district finances, graduation rates, test scores, and other measures of student outcomes. While all the figures cited here are statewide, the DataTool allows users to assess and compare how all 421 individual school districts are faring on each of these metrics.

The tool’s key statewide findings include that student exam scores have not recovered from the pre-pandemic period across Wisconsin, as shown by Forward Exam scores in math and English Language Arts (ELA). Student ACT scores have also not recovered.

There was a slight improvement in 2024-25 Forward Exam ELA results from the previous year, but the share of students meeting expectations in math slipped slightly. That leaves a slim majority of Wisconsin students meeting expectations overall in the two core subject areas.

Meanwhile, “chronic absenteeism” refers to students who were absent for 10% or more of school days, or at least 18 days in a typical school year. After spiking in 2021-22, the absenteeism rate has decreased in each successive year. However, the drop in 2024-25 was the smallest one yet, leaving the chronic absenteeism rate stuck above pre-pandemic levels by over four percentage points.

The share of high school students taking advanced placement (AP) exams who scored highly enough to receive college credit saw a significant increase. The share who scored 3 or above — the threshold to receive college credit or placement — increased from 71.2% in 2023-24 to 77.9% in 2024-25. This occurred even as the total number of students taking AP exams increased.

Even as student enrollment statewide has declined, the share of students with special needs has increased. The statewide number and share of students identified with disabilities has increased for five years in a row, including a 0.4% increase (455 students) in 2025-26. Meanwhile, after increasing in prior years, enrollment of English learners fell by 2.5% in 2025-26. The share of English learners in the student population remained steady at 6.9%.

— This information is provided to Wisconsin Newspaper Association members as a service of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, the state’s leading resource for nonpartisan state and local government research and civic education. Learn more at wispolicyforum.org.