This year, 25,029 students are enrolled in Madison schools, a 0.5% decrease from last year, when 25,155 attended.
Enrollment also has fallen statewide over the past five years, according to data from the Department of Public Instruction released earlier this month.
Larger 12th-grade classes than incoming freshman classes are partially to blame for the drop in the high school population, as well as families choosing other options such as the Early College STEM Academy, according to Soldner and Cindy Green, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning.
“We see students leaving the district at middle school, which is also causing smaller class sizes to come into the high school,” Green said. “We do see an uptick of some of those students coming back to us, but I think over the last four years in our analysis, we’re starting to see the effects of that into these smaller class sizes coming into high school.”
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1998! Money and school performance.
A.B.T.: “Ain’t been taught.”
8,897 (!) Madison 4k to 3rd grade students scored lower than 75% of the students in the national comparison group during the 2024-2025 school year.
Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average (now > $26,000 per student) K-12 tax & spending practices. This, despite long term, disastrous reading results.
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?
Legislative Letter to Jill Underly on Wisconsin Literacy