Innovative High

Innovative High operates as an one-room-style high school in Madison, Wisconsin, part of Madison Metropolitan School District. Current enrollment sits at 138 students spanning grades 9 through 12. Enrollment runs roughly 71% below the state mean of about 475.

Madison Metropolitan School District comprises 53 schools with combined enrollment of 25,155 students; Innovative High is among them.

For racial and ethnic makeup, Innovative High lists that the largest single group is Black at 46%, but no single group is in the majority. Other groups include 24% Hispanic, 16% White, 12% multiracial. The wider county runs roughly 5% Black, putting the school's mix meaningfully more Black than the area baseline.

Looking at school resources, Staff filings list 18 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 7.9:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 14.6:1, so this campus is tighter than the state norm typical. About 72% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, often used as a Title I proxy. That share is noticeably above Dane County's rate of about 32%.

In the area at large, community-level numbers for Dane County indicate median household income runs about $89,975, 55% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 5%. Across Dane County's 169 public schools (combined enrollment of about 78,525 students), Innovative High is one campus in the mix.

Nearest neighbor: Lapham Elementary, around 0.0 miles off. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius.

Innovative High operates from a downtown location.

Trend over the last 7 years. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Innovative High has contracted 45%, going from 250 students in 2018 to 138 in 2025. The Black share of enrollment edged up from 37% to 46% over that span. Class-load math has tightened: from 9.1:1 in 2018 to 7.9:1 in 2025.

On this page, recent activity here tends to focus on enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. Members of the school community can share what they know.