Highland Community School

Highland Community School operates as a middle-of-the-pack elementary campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, overseen by Milwaukee School District. Current enrollment sits at 387 students spanning grades pre-K through 8.

Across the 155 schools in Milwaukee School District (65,835 students total), Highland Community School accounts for its share of the district's footprint.

On demographics, Highland Community School reports that 39% of students identify as White, with the remaining enrollment distributed across several groups. Beyond that, the school shows 37% Black, 12% Hispanic, 11% multiracial. That is visibly less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 51%.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 29 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 13.3:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 14.7:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. Roughly 41% of students at Highland Community School qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. Set against Milwaukee County (around 64%), the school's rate is meaningfully below typical.

With demographic context factored in, Highland Community School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 52.8%, the actual is 56.4%, a residual of +3.6 points.

Around the school, community-level numbers for Milwaukee County indicate median household earnings sit near $64,435, 35% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 13% of residents live below the federal poverty line. Highland Community School is one of 284 public schools in Milwaukee County (combined enrollment of about 122,496 students).

Milwaukee Academy of Science is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.3 miles from this campus. Within five miles, there are 8 other public schools. On composite proficiency, Highland Community School comes 1st of 6 in the immediate cluster, higher than the nearby-schools average of 12.1%.

The campus sits in an urban setting. Highland Community School is a charter school, which puts it inside the public-school system but outside the standard district-managed model.

Looking at the recent track record. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Highland Community School has declined 5%, going from 409 students in 2018 to 387 in 2025. Class-load math has narrowed: from 27.3:1 in 2018 to 13.3:1 in 2025.

On allk12, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.