Northwoods Reporter

There were 81 American Indian students enrolled in Barron County schools in the 2023-24 school year, 12.9% less than the previous year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

Data showed that Barron County schools welcomed 7,355 students during the 2023-24 school year. Among them, American Indian students comprised 1.1% of the student body to be the third least represented ethnicity in the county.

Among the 36 schools in Barron County, Cumberland Elementary School recorded the highest enrollment of American Indian students in the 2023-24 school year, with a total of 24 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 American Indian students enrollment	Total Enrollment
Barron Area Montessori School	1.9%	52
Barron High School	0.6%	312
Cameron Elementary School	0.5%	434
Cameron Middle School	0.3%	320
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser Middle School	0.5%	204
Cumberland Elementary School	6.9%	349
Cumberland High School	4.7%	297
Cumberland Middle School	4.6%	261
New Auburn Elementary School	0.7%	138
Rice Lake High School	0.7%	712
Rice Lake Middle School	1%	610
Riverview Middle School	0.3%	298
Tainter Elementary School	0.2%	490
Turtle Lake Elementary School	1.9%	214
Turtle Lake High School	1.8%	112
Turtle Lake Middle School	4%	99