SW Wisconsin News

There were 27 Black students enrolled in Iowa County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 18.2% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Iowa County schools welcomed 3,409 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.8% of the student body to be the third least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 15 schools in Iowa County, Iowa-Grant Elementary/Middle School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with seven 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
Barneveld Elementary School	0.4%	243
Barneveld High School	0.8%	130
Barneveld Middle School	1.3%	80
Dodgeville Elementary School	0.3%	379
Dodgeville High School	1.6%	371
Dodgeville Middle School	1%	310
Highland Community Elementary School	0.9%	114
Highland Community High School	1%	99
Iowa-Grant Elementary/Middle School	1.5%	455
Mineral Point Elementary School	0.8%	366
Mineral Point High School	0.4%	238
Pecatonica Elementary School	0.6%	179