Madison Metropolitan School District

Madison Metropolitan School District serves 25,247 students across 54 schools in Wisconsin's capital city. With 52 of those schools carrying a published rating, parents get a nearly complete data picture — uncommon transparency for a district this large.

The district averages 6.6 out of 10 across its 52 ranked schools. That score reflects a wide performance spread: many schools fall near the midpoint, but the strongest pull well clear of the pack. Crestwood Elementary leads at 8.7 — a full 2.1 points above the district average. That gap signals real concentration of academic strength at the top, and parents willing to do the research can capture it.

Elementary schools anchor the district's highest performers. Crestwood Elementary (8.7) and Marquette Elementary (8.1) both crack the top tier, joined by Shorewood Hills Elementary at 7.9. The middle school results are just as notable. O'Keeffe Middle scores 8.6, placing it a single tenth of a point off the district's top school — an unusually strong middle school result for a system this size. Spring Harbor Middle follows at 8.3. For families worried about the performance drop that often accompanies the elementary-to-middle transition, Madison Metro's middle school options offer real reassurance.

With 25,247 students and 54 schools, Madison Metro carries the variation that comes with scale. A district average of 6.6 puts the typical school in solid mid-tier territory. But multiple schools scoring 8.0 or above — distributed across both elementary and middle grade levels — means the ceiling here is high. Parents who approach school selection as a research project have the data to work with: 52 of 54 schools are rated, and individual school profiles let families compare options side by side before making a decision.