Northwoods Reporter

There were 26 Black students enrolled in Polk County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 13.3% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Polk County schools welcomed 6,298 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, Black students comprised 0.4% of the student body to be the second least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 26 schools in Polk County, Amery High School recorded the highest enrollment of Black students in the 2023-24 school year, with six 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
Amery High School	1.4%	430
Amery Intermediate School	0.7%	275
Amery Middle School	0.3%	300
Clayton Elementary School	1.5%	136
Frederic 6-12 School	1.3%	226
Gaylord A. Nelson Educational Center	0.4%	269
Lien Elementary School	0.3%	321
Osceola Elementary School	0.3%	339
Osceola High School	0.4%	463
Osceola Middle School	0.3%	294
Saint Croix Falls Middle School	0.3%	311
Unity High School	1%	295
Unity Middle School	0.8%	258