Three Marathon County school districts received overall grades ranging from B− to C in Niche’s latest county evaluations, the lowest marks among the districts listed.
The 2027 evaluations contain some useful contrasts: two featured districts earned Bs for academics, while the third received a B for clubs and activities.
Beyond those grades, families have concrete developments to consider, including an upcoming operating referendum and school-based support that extends beyond the classroom.
Edgar School District — Overall Niche Grade: B−
Edgar serves preschool through 12th grade in the Edgar community and surrounding area. Its current Niche profile lists 575 students and a student-teacher ratio of 11 to 1.
Academics Receive a B
Edgar’s B for academics sits above its B− overall grade. Clubs and activities also received a B, while college preparation earned a B− and teachers received a C+.
The profile reports 46% reading proficiency and 39% math proficiency, identifying the assessment period as 2024–25. Reading was the stronger subject, although fewer than half of tested students met the reported proficiency benchmark in either area.
The staffing ratio needs its own translation: 11 students per full-time-equivalent teacher across the district does not mean every classroom contains 11 students.
Taken together, the figures give families a more specific picture than the overall letter: comparatively stronger academic and activity evaluations, alongside proficiency results that leave room for improvement.
A November Vote on Maintaining Programs
Edgar’s immediate local development is its November 3, 2026 operating referendum.
The district is seeking permission to exceed Wisconsin’s revenue limit by $1.4 million annually for five years. It says the proposed funding would maintain programs, services and basic maintenance as its existing operating authorization expires.
The district’s account of earlier referendum spending provides tangible examples. It reports restoring a business education teacher in 2022, now offering six business courses, and expanding agricultural science classes through adjusted teaching assignments.
It also reports renovating its chemistry lab in 2025 and providing families with three-day or five-day 4K options.
Those are district-reported changes, separate from Niche’s evaluation. The pending vote concerns the resources available for the next several years; as of October 29, it has not been decided.
Mosinee School District — Overall Niche Grade: B−
Mosinee is considerably larger than Edgar, despite sharing its overall grade. Its Niche profile lists 1,902 students in preschool through 12th grade and a student-teacher ratio of 13 to 1.
Three B Grades Beneath the Overall Mark
Mosinee received Bs for academics, teachers and college preparation. Its clubs and activities category received a C.
Niche reports 41% reading proficiency and 39% math proficiency for the assessment period identified as 2024–25. The two subjects were relatively close, with most tested students falling below the reported proficiency threshold.
Those figures identify an academic concern without explaining every student’s experience. They also illustrate why the overall B− should not be treated as an identical evaluation of instruction, college preparation and extracurricular life.
Families comparing schools within the district will get more useful detail from the relevant grade-level results, courses and support services than from assuming the composite letter describes each campus equally.
A Student Idea Becomes Weekend Food Support
One established support program began with a classroom lesson. According to the district’s Feeding Our Future program, seventh graders proposed a school food pantry after studying homelessness in 2017.
The pantry initially served the middle school, then expanded to the high school and elementary school. Its stated purpose is to help students have food available over the weekend.
During the school year, food bags are placed in participating students’ lockers on Fridays. The district says most contain at least two breakfast entrées, two dinner entrées and two snacks, with contents depending on donations.
Families request participation through a form completed each school year. The pantry also makes snacks available for use during the school day.
It is a specific service families can access, rather than an abstract statement about student well-being. Its presence adds practical context to the district profile without establishing a particular effect on test results.
School District of Athens — Overall Niche Grade: C
The School District of Athens serves preschool through 12th grade. Its Niche profile, listed as Athens School District, reports 417 students and a student-teacher ratio of 11 to 1.
Activities Earn a Stronger Mark Than Academics
Athens received a B for clubs and activities, compared with C+ grades for academics and teachers. College preparation received a C−.
Niche reports 46% reading proficiency and 34% math proficiency for 2024–25. The difference makes math a particularly relevant area for families to examine when considering instructional support.
The district’s school network includes Athens Elementary, Athens Middle, Athens High and Maple Grove Charter School. Maple Grove is a school within the district, so its programs and results should be distinguished from findings covering Athens as a whole.
That distinction matters in a small district: enrollment size does not mean every child encounters the same instructional setting.
Reading Support With Specific Expectations
Athens’ December 2024 school board presentation on accountability and improvement documented school-specific academic responses.
At Maple Grove, the reading action plan called for students needing the most intensive help to receive targeted instruction in groups of five or fewer, for 30 minutes at least five times weekly, with weekly progress monitoring.
The plan also described diagnostic testing to identify particular skill needs and personalized reading plans communicated to families quarterly.
At Athens Elementary, the presentation identified work on reading instruction, intervention processes and curriculum alignment.
These were documented plans and priorities; the presentation does not establish that every intended outcome was subsequently achieved.
For families, the useful follow-up is concrete: whether the described support is reaching their child, which skills it targets and what current progress monitoring shows.
Marathon County’s Lowest Grades Still Include Bs
The rest of Niche’s county listing provides important perspective. D.C. Everest received an A− overall, Wausau a B+, and Marathon City, Spencer and Stratford each received a B.
Edgar and Mosinee therefore sit just one letter-grade step below those three B districts. Their inclusion does not establish poor absolute performance, and their equal B− grades do not justify placing one below the other.
Niche’s 2027 district methodology combines academic measures with factors including teachers, school culture, family feedback, resources, activities and sports. The overall grades consequently reflect more than standardized-test proficiency.
Wisconsin’s own accountability system is separate. The Department of Public Instruction explains that its 2024–25 report cards established a new baseline, with overall accountability scores unsuitable for direct comparison with prior years.
That is another reason to keep the measures straight: Niche letters, state accountability scores, assessment percentages and district improvement plans answer different questions.
