Summary:
Madison, Wisconsin is home to 12 middle schools, all within the Madison Metropolitan School District and all serving grades 6–8, with a combined enrollment of 4,990 students. The district overall ranks 321st of 432 in Wisconsin (26th percentile, 1 star), but performance among its middle schools varies enormously.
Two schools stand out well above the rest. Hamilton Middle ranks 21st of 643 schools statewide (97th percentile, 5 stars), with an average proficiency of about 80.6% across the eight reported 2025–2026 tests. Spring Harbor Middle ranks 71st (89th percentile, 4 stars) at about 73.6%. Both beat state averages in all eight reported test areas. O'Keeffe Middle (65th percentile, 3 stars, about 60.0%) and Toki Middle (49th percentile, 2 stars, about 54.5%) perform above district averages, with O'Keeffe also above state averages in six of eight tests.
At the other end, Black Hawk Middle ranks 562nd of 643 (13th percentile, 1 star) with average proficiency around 28.6% — roughly a 52-point gap from Hamilton. Whitehorse Middle, Sherman Middle, Sennett Middle, James Wright Middle and Badger Rock Middle cluster in the 36%–40% range. Poverty and attendance track closely with results: Hamilton has the lowest free/reduced lunch rate (19.37%) and the lowest chronic absenteeism (16.9%), the only school below the state's 17.3%, while Black Hawk has the highest of both (70.33% and 41.9%). Spending and class size don't follow achievement — Hamilton spends the least ($16,988) with the highest student-teacher ratio (14.4), while Badger Rock spends the most ($25,574) yet ranks near the bottom.
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