Summary:
Families in the Westosha Central Union High School School District have a single public high school option: Central High in Salem, Wisconsin. It serves grades 9–12 and enrolls 1,309 students, so every district-level high school figure reflects this one campus. Central High holds a 3-star rating and ranked 179 out of 533 high schools in 2025–2026, placing it in the 66th percentile — solidly above average statewide.
Central High's outcomes beyond test scores are strong. Its 2024–2025 graduation rate was 97.5%, well above Wisconsin's 92.0%, and it reported a 0.0% dropout rate compared with 1.1% statewide. Chronic absenteeism was 12.8% versus 17.3% statewide — about 26% lower, though it still means roughly 1 in 8 students miss enough school to be chronically absent. In 2025–2026 the school outperformed the state in all four tested subjects, with the biggest edge in 10th-grade Social Studies at 58.86% proficient versus 48.25% statewide (+10.61 points), followed by ACT Mathematics at 48.18% versus 42.93% (+5.25 points). English Language Arts and Science were above state by narrower margins.
Test-score trends are mixed. Social Studies climbed from 46.79% to 58.86%, a 12.07-point jump while the state rose only 0.58 points. English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science all declined year over year, with Mathematics falling 10.29 points from an exceptional 58.47% — a mark that had been 15.74 points above the state. Ranking moved from the 52nd percentile in 2023–2024 to 68th in 2024–2025 and 66th in 2025–2026, holding 3 stars throughout. For context, 12.3% of students received free/reduced lunch, per-student spending was $14,273, and the student-teacher ratio was 18.5; these are background figures rather than explanations for results.
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