Enrollment Analysis: Hispanic students comprised 16% of Lafayette County's student body in 2023-24 school year

Jill Underly Wisconsin State Superintendent of Public Instruction | Oficial website

By SW Wisconsin News

Oct 17, 2024

There were 425 Hispanic students enrolled in Lafayette County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 4.4% more than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Lafayette County schools welcomed 2,658 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Hispanic students comprised 16% of the student body to be the second most represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 17 schools in Lafayette County, Darlington Elementary/Middle School recorded the highest enrollment of Hispanic students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 222 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.

Ethnicities in Lafayette County in 2023-24 School Year

Enrollment in Lafayette County Schools During 2023-24 School Year

School name	% of Hispanic students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Argyle Elementary School	2.7%	147
Argyle High School	1.3%	77
Argyle Middle School	6.7%	60
Belmont Elementary School	13.4%	224
Belmont High School	7.4%	163
Benton Elementary School	3.8%	132
Benton High School	5.1%	59
Benton Middle School	3.7%	27
Black Hawk Elementary School	5.3%	169
Black Hawk High School	2.7%	112
Black Hawk Middle School	1.4%	72
Darlington Elementary/Middle School	35.1%	633
Darlington High School	28.8%	257
Pecatonica High School	0.9%	214
Shullsburg Elementary School	20.3%	133
Shullsburg High School	14.7%	102
Shullsburg Junior High School	15.6%	77