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Honest take: what's the hardest part about being a student at Central High?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
1,309
High
STATE 475
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·WESTOSHA CENTRAL UHS SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 551329001751
Central High
24617 75th St, Salem, WI 53168 · (262) 843-2321 · Kenosha County
GRADES 09–12HIGH41-RURALREGULAR SCHOOL1,309 STUDENTS
·
allk12 Grade
Not graded
This school has no state test results for 2023-24 or 2024-25 to grade, which is common for schools that end before third grade. How grades work
Student : Teacher
18.6:1
71 FTE teachers
STATE 14.6:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
12%
161 students
STATE 42%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other high schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 9 | 345 | 26% |
| Grade 10 | 336 | 26% |
| Grade 11 | 334 | 26% |
| Grade 12 | 294 | 22% |
Student demographics
30%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
STATE 54% · US 70%
Student head counts by race/ethnicity from federal NCES enrollment data. District, state, and US figures are each group's share of all public school students in that area (US excludes territories). Very small groups may be suppressed in the source, so categories do not always sum exactly to total enrollment.
Gender split
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
UNDERPERFORMING
Bottom 10% of WI schools after controlling for student poverty
Actual proficiency
46.7%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
70.1%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-23.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 47% of students here test proficient in math and reading, below the roughly 70% typical for Wisconsin schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations compares each school with others at the same poverty level, not by raw scores, so a school lands here when its results trail those comparable schools, which is not the same as having low scores. A higher-scoring school can still fall in this tier if similar schools score higher still.
BeatsExpectations runs a per-state regression of proficiency on free/reduced-lunch share, then scores each school by residual. How this is calculated →
Schools most like Central High
Central High's state test result (46.7% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central High this school | 1,309 | 12.3% | 46.7% |
| Union Grove High Union Grove | 1,032 | 11.7% | 43.6% |
| Waterford High Waterford | 889 | 13.5% | 65.7% |
| Mukwonago High Mukwonago | 1,604 | 12.6% | 55.2% |
| Hortonville High Hortonville | 1,323 | 10.7% | 53.6% |
| Kettle Moraine High Wales | 869 | 11.5% | 52.3% |
Matched among Wisconsin high schools on enrollment, the share of students from low-income families (eligible for free or reduced-price lunch), and racial and ethnic makeup. Proficient is the average share of students meeting the state standard across all of the school's state tests in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the same combined score our test-score rankings use. Online schools and schools serving specialized populations are not matched.
Where Central High ranks
Among high schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Kenosha County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 46.7% | #207 of 402 | #3 of 6 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 1,309 | #46 of 532 | #4 of 11 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 18.6:1 | #311 of 325 | #5 of 8 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 29.9% | #158 of 325 | #7 of 8 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 12.3% | #397 of 418 | #8 of 8 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +21.1% | #20 of 128 | N/A |
Ranked against other public high schools. Online schools are left out of every list, and test-score lists leave out schools that serve specialized populations. Each rank links to the full list. Arrows under a test-score rank show places moved since the prior test year, among schools tested both years.
4-year change
SY 2020-21 vs SY 2024-25Enrollment
1,309
+178 (+16%) vs 2020
+64% since 1990-91, when it was 797
Student : Teacher
18.6:1
was 17.4:1
Source: NCES Common Core of Data
Enrollment and staffing by year
| School year | Students | Teachers (FTE) | Students per teacher | Free and reduced lunch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 1,309 | 70.5 | 18.6:1 | 12% (161) |
| 2023-24 | 1,278 | 68.5 | 18.7:1 | 11% (145) |
| 2022-23 | 1,219 | 67.5 | 18.1:1 | 10% (125) |
| 2020-21 | 1,131 | 65 | 17.4:1 | 20% (229) |
| 2017-18 | 1,081 | 67.9 | 15.9:1 | 16% (170) |
| 2015-16 | 1,153 | 68 | 17.0:1 | 21% (241) |
| 2010-11 | 1,219 | 71 | 17.2:1 | 23% (277) |
| 2000-01 | 1,135 | 64 | 17.7:1 | 6% (63) |
| 1990-91 | 797 | 54 | 14.8:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Central High.
Since 2017-18: students up 21% (1,081 to 1,309); teachers up 4% (67.9 to 70.5).
About Central High
In Salem, Wisconsin, part of Kenosha County, Central High is a high school. The student body numbers 1,309 students, from grades 9 through 12. An average school in this group (high schools in Wisconsin) has about 475 students.
Westosha Central UHS School District is the district for Central High.
At Central High, White students make up 83% of the student body. The school is also 11% Hispanic and 3% multiracial. The chance that two students picked at random at Central High belong to different racial or ethnic groups, known as the diversity index, is 30%.
The school has about 18.6 students per teacher and 70.5 full-time-equivalent teachers. That ratio is over the 14.6:1 average for high schools in Wisconsin. Federal records put free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at 12%. Public schools in Kenosha County average 48%.
The allk12 BeatsExpectations score for Central High is -23.4 points, in the bottom 10% of Wisconsin. Its average proficiency rate on state tests is 46.7%, and the predicted rate is 70.1%.
Within Kenosha County, median household income is about $81,239, a bachelor's degree or higher is held by about 31% of adults, and the poverty rate is about 8%. Federal data list 56 public schools in Kenosha County, with a combined enrollment of about 27,114.
The nearest public school is Salem Elementary, at about 1.3 miles. There are 4 other public schools within five miles. Central High places 6th of 7 on proficiency among the closest schools that report scores.
Under the NCES locale system, Central High is Rural: Fringe.
The number of students grew from 1,131 to 1,309 over 4 years. The school's ratio rose from 17.4:1 to 18.6:1 between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Topics for discussion here include school safety, transportation, and start times. Anyone with firsthand experience at this school can post or comment.
Kenosha County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
168,438
Census ACS
Median income
$81,239
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
31%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
8%
Below federal line
Schools in county
56
27,114 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other Central High schools
70 other US public schools in 32 states are named Central High. Central High is the 21st largest of the 71.
- Central HighLa Crosse, WI · 969 students
- Central HighWest Allis, WI · 961 students
- Central HighSheboygan, WI · 183 students
- Central High SchoolSAN ANGELO, TX · 2,985 students
- CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLOMAHA, NE · 2,587 students
Nearby schools
- Salem Elementary1.3 mi · 936
- Bristol Elementary2.9 mi · 830
- Riverview Elementary3.3 mi · 449
- Trevor-Wilmot Grade4.2 mi · 455
- Brighton Elementary5.1 mi · 196
- Wilmot High5.3 mi · 840
Frequently asked questions
About Central HighHow large is Central High?
Central High enrolls approximately 1,309 students in grades 09-12.
What grades does Central High serve?
Central High serves grades 09-12.
How many teachers does Central High have?
Central High employs 71 FTE teachers, for a student-to-teacher ratio of 18.6:1.
How diverse is Central High?
Central High reports a student body of 83% White, 11% Hispanic, 2% Black, 1% Asian, 3% Two or more.
What district is Central High in?
Central High is part of Westosha Central UHS School District.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.