Southern Wisconsin Times

There were 12 Pacific Islander students enrolled in Rock County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 20% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Rock County schools welcomed 25,100 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Pacific Islander students comprised less than 0.1% of the student body to be the least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 64 schools in Rock County, Gaston Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of Pacific Islander students in the 2023-24 school year, with three 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 Pacific Islander students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Beloit Learning Academy	0.5%	212
Edgerton Community Elementary School	0.1%	819
Gaston Elementary School	0.9%	347
Kennedy Elementary School	0.3%	391
Memorial High School	0.2%	1,378
Monroe Elementary School	0.3%	349
Parkview High School	0.4%	232
Washington Elementary School	0.3%	408
West Elementary School	0.3%	324