Overview

Madison West High School founded in 1930 is a national School of Excellence as designated by the US Department of Education. West has a student population of approximately 2100 students, 250 faculty and staff and 150 certified teachers.

West High School is the closest public High School to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a result we have a very diverse student population. West provides a comprehensive educational experience for a multicultural and international student body from 110 countries from throughout the world.

West boast of the State Chess Championship for the past three years

State Science Olympiad Champion for the past 8 years

West leads the state with the most national merit semi finalist over the past 10 years

West has compiled the highest composit ACT score in the state over the past 8 years

2006-2007 West had 3 of the11 perfect ACT scores in the state over 25%

Of the six teams selected by NASA to launch rockets in a national competition both West teams were selected to participate in the national student launch project

2005-2006 State DECCA, President

2005-2006 Presidential Scholar - Represented the United states as an ambassador in Japan - summer 2006

We have over 100 student clubs and organizations and have put together numerous opportunities for engagement of all students in extra curricular activities and sports.

Over the past five years we have had a large influx of Latino students, a growing population of South East Asian and African American students who struggle to be successful in our current college prep education model. As a result we have put into place several initiatives to assist out ethnic minority students with academic achievement.

Though a large segment of our student body does extremely well both in classes and on standardized tests our statistics show there is a dramatic achievement gap between white students and students of color especially African American students

ASPIRA

Project EXCEL

African Centered Pedagogy

UW PEOPLE Program

Multi Cultural Center

Spanish for Spanish speakers
Please see Race and Equity for details and description of programs - Closing the Gap

Like many urban high schools across the country we continue to find ways to provide a quality high school education to all students with dwindling resources. We continually try to find ways to close the gap with our overall goal being to develop strategies that help all students reach their full potential.

Objectives