1
What's one thing Cherokee Heights Middle gets right about preparing students for what comes next?
Community prompt from u/allk12. Replies below.
Enrollment
526
Middle
DISTRICT 416 · STATE 381
SCHOOL COMMUNITY·MADISON METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT·NCES 550852000922
Cherokee Heights Middle
4301 Cherokee Dr, Madison, WI 53711 · (608) 204-1240 · Dane County
GRADES 06–08MIDDLE11-CITYTITLE IREGULAR SCHOOL526 STUDENTS
D
allk12 Grade
Scored higher than 6% of Wisconsin public middle schools
- DTest scores Share of students meeting the state standard in reading, math, and other tested subjects, 2023-24 and 2024-25.
- DBeats expectations How far test scores land above or below what the share of low-income students predicts for a school in this state.
Grades compare a school only with schools in the same state, because every state gives its own test. How grades work · Top-graded Wisconsin public middle schools
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
47 FTE teachers
DISTRICT 11.2:1 · STATE 12.8:1
Free / Reduced Lunch
48%
254 students
DISTRICT 48% · STATE 42%
Community
1
0 members
Enrollment and student:teacher ratio compared against other middle schools. Free/Reduced Lunch and demographics compared against all schools.
Enrollment by grade, 2024-25
| Grade | Students | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 159 | 30% |
| Grade 7 | 177 | 34% |
| Grade 8 | 190 | 36% |
Student demographics
68%Diversity index
The chance that two students picked at random belong to different racial or ethnic groups.
DISTRICT 73% · 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
Test scores
Forward Exam 2024-25 . % Meeting or AdvancedEnglish Language Arts
44.1%
WI avg 53.1% . +6.2pp since 2023
Math
37.2%
WI avg 54.8% . +5.9pp since 2023
What this means: On the Forward Exam, Wisconsin's statewide test, about 44 of every 100 students at this school read and write at grade level and about 37 of 100 do math at grade level. Across all Wisconsin schools, those numbers are about 53 and 55. Reading and writing scores are up about 6 points since 2023, while math scores are up about 6 points.
Forward Exam results by year
| School year | English Language Arts | Math |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 44.1% | 37.2% |
| 2023-24 | 37.9% | 31.3% |
% Meeting or Advanced, all students and all tested grades.
Source: Forward Exam. All students, all grades. See all years and grades →
BeatsExpectations
Demographically-adjusted score · methodologyTier
AS EXPECTED
Performing as predicted given the school's student profile
Actual proficiency
38.6%
composite math + reading, all grades
Predicted
48.0%
based on WI schools with similar FRL share
Beats by
-9.4pp
below demographic expectation
What this means: About 39% of students here test proficient in math and reading, compared with the roughly 48% typical for Wisconsin schools with a similar share of low-income students. BeatsExpectations measures results against demographically similar schools rather than by raw scores, and this school falls within the typical range, neither among Wisconsin's top nor bottom 10%.
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 Cherokee Heights Middle
Cherokee Heights Middle's state test result (38.6% proficient) is higher than 1 of the 5 schools below with a result.
| School | Students | Low-income | Proficient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cherokee Heights Middle this school | 526 | 48.3% | 38.6% |
| Sennett Middle Madison | 570 | 52.6% | 33.9% |
| Horning Middle Waukesha | 534 | 54.9% | 40.8% |
| Ezekiel Gillespie Middle School Madison | 462 | 53.2% | 40.6% |
| Whitewater Middle Whitewater | 394 | 50.3% | 47.2% |
| Deer Creek Intermediate Saint Francis | 300 | 46.7% | 54.4% |
Matched among Wisconsin middle 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 Cherokee Heights Middle ranks
Among middle schools| Measure | This school | In Wisconsin | In Dane County |
|---|---|---|---|
| State test proficiency ranked highest first | 38.6% | #287 of 323 | #28 of 33 |
| Math proficiency ranked highest first | 37.2% | #286 of 327 ▲ 14 | #28 of 33 ▲ 1 |
| Reading proficiency ranked highest first | 44.1% | #262 of 327 ▲ 22 | #27 of 33 ▲ 1 |
| Enrollment ranked largest first | 526 | #118 of 389 | #17 of 35 |
| Students per teacher ranked fewest first | 11.3:1 | #41 of 265 | #8 of 29 |
| Diversity index ranked most diverse first | 67.8% | #23 of 265 | #8 of 29 |
| Free and reduced lunch ranked highest share first | 48.3% | #82 of 323 | #7 of 33 |
| Enrollment change since 2017-18 ranked fastest growth first | +0.4% | #77 of 79 | #8 of 8 |
Ranked against other public middle 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
526
-95 (-15%) vs 2020
-12% since 1990-91, when it was 595
Student : Teacher
11.3:1
was 12.7:1
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 | 526 | 46.6 | 11.3:1 | 48% (254) |
| 2023-24 | 537 | 45.6 | 11.8:1 | 48% (257) |
| 2022-23 | 553 | 37.8 | 14.6:1 | 45% (249) |
| 2020-21 | 621 | 49 | 12.7:1 | 57% (351) |
| 2017-18 | 524 | 49.9 | 10.5:1 | 52% (272) |
| 2015-16 | 447 | 39 | 11.5:1 | 61% (274) |
| 2010-11 | 524 | 40 | 13.1:1 | 62% (327) |
| 2000-01 | 598 | 51 | 11.7:1 | 29% (176) |
| 1990-91 | 595 | 47 | 12.7:1 | N/A |
Source: NCES Common Core of Data. Rows are the federal collections on file for Cherokee Heights Middle.
Since 2017-18: students unchanged (524 to 526); teachers down 7% (49.9 to 46.6).
About Cherokee Heights Middle
Cherokee Heights Middle is a medium-sized middle school found in Madison, Wisconsin. The school reports 526 students in grades 6 through 8. The school's enrollment is 38% above the 381 average for middle schools in Wisconsin.
Cherokee Heights Middle sits within Madison Metropolitan School District, which has 53 schools and 25,155 students.
Hispanic students are the largest group at Cherokee Heights Middle, with 40% of enrollment. The next largest groups are 37% White, 11% Black, 7% multiracial, and 4% Asian. The school's Hispanic share is 33 points above the 8% share among Dane County residents. By the diversity index, Cherokee Heights Middle comes in at 68%.
Federal records show a student-to-teacher ratio of 11.3:1 at Cherokee Heights Middle, with 46.6 full-time-equivalent teachers. Among middle schools in Wisconsin, the typical ratio is 12.8:1. The count of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch equals 48% of enrollment. It compares with 32% for public schools in Dane County.
allk12 grades Cherokee Heights Middle a D. The grade compares the school only with Wisconsin public middle schools, because each state gives its own test.
The school's average proficiency rate on state tests is 38.6%. For its free or reduced-price lunch share, the predicted value is 48.0%.
County data help place the school in context: in Dane County, median household income is about $89,975, about 55% of adults have at least a bachelor's degree, and the poverty rate is about 5%. Cherokee Heights Middle is among the 169 public schools in Dane County.
The nearest public school is Thoreau Elementary, at about 0.5 miles. Cherokee Heights Middle has at least 8 other public schools within five miles. The school's 38.6% average proficiency ranks 6th among 7 nearby schools.
Cherokee Heights Middle falls in the City: Large locale category, used for schools inside a principal city with a population of 250,000 or more.
The number of students declined from 621 to 526 over 4 years. Students per teacher fell from 12.7 in 2020-21 to 11.3 in 2024-25.
Discussion on this page can cover school safety, transportation, and start times. Reviews and ratings from people who know the school are welcome.
Dane County at a glance
View full county profilePopulation
572,674
Census ACS
Median income
$89,975
Household, ACS
Bachelor's+
55%
Adults 25+
Poverty rate
5%
Below federal line
Schools in county
169
78,525 students
Quick facts
Related schools
Other schools in Madison Metropolitan School District
- West HighHigh · 2,222 students
- Vel Phillips Memorial High SchoolHigh · 2,004 students
- East HighHigh · 1,643 students
- LaFollette HighHigh · 1,541 students
- Hamilton MiddleMiddle · 790 students
- Cesar Chavez ElementaryElementary · 631 students
Other schools in Madison
- West HighHigh · 2,222 students
- Vel Phillips Memorial High SchoolHigh · 2,004 students
- East HighHigh · 1,643 students
- LaFollette HighHigh · 1,541 students
- Hamilton MiddleMiddle · 790 students
- Cesar Chavez ElementaryElementary · 631 students
Nearby schools
- Thoreau Elementary0.5 mi · 403
- Midvale Elementary1.0 mi · 372
- Toki Middle1.4 mi · 487
- Orchard Ridge Elementary1.4 mi · 265
- Hamilton Middle1.7 mi · 790
- Leopold Elementary1.7 mi · 626
Frequently asked questions
About Cherokee Heights MiddleHow large is Cherokee Heights Middle?
Cherokee Heights Middle enrolls approximately 526 students in grades 06-08.
What grades does Cherokee Heights Middle serve?
Cherokee Heights Middle serves grades 06-08.
How many students per teacher at Cherokee Heights Middle?
Approximately 11.3:1 students per teacher at Cherokee Heights Middle.
How diverse is Cherokee Heights Middle?
Cherokee Heights Middle reports a student body of 37% White, 40% Hispanic, 11% Black, 4% Asian, 7% Two or more.
Who oversees Cherokee Heights Middle?
Cherokee Heights Middle is overseen by Madison Metropolitan School District in Dane County.
Data sourceSchool profile facts are sourced from the NCES. Community content is posted by allk12 members.