Summary
East High is a large public high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, serving about 1,238 students in grades 9–12 as part of the Appleton Area School District. In 2025–2026 it ranked 351st of 533 Wisconsin high schools (34th percentile, 2 stars) — a modest gain over the prior decade, when it usually sat between the 17th and 28th percentile, but still below the district average and in the state's lower third. About 40.5% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2024–2025, down from 45.4% the year before; per-student spending was $16,413 and the student–teacher ratio was 14.6.
Among nearby schools, East is the stronger of Appleton's two large comprehensive high schools. It outranks and outperforms West High on graduation (92.7% vs. 88.0%), dropout (1.0% vs. 2.7%), chronic absenteeism (25.0% vs. 33.1%), and proficiency in all four tested subjects — even though West serves more low-income students and spends more per pupil. East also beats Appleton Technical Academy in every subject, but trails Renaissance School, Tesla Engineering Charter School, Little Chute High, Little Chute Career Pathways Academy, and Kimberly High by wide margins. Notably, Tesla shares East's building, enrolls 147 students, and ranks 9th statewide.
East's brightest spot is completion: its 92.7% graduation rate tops both district and state, and has climbed steadily from 83.9% in 2020–2021. Test scores remain the weak point. In 2025–2026, 10th-grade proficiency was 30.4% in social studies, 47.45% in English language arts, 33.44% in math, and 34.39% in science — all below district and state averages. Chronic absenteeism, at 25.0%, is well above the district's 15.7% and the state's 17.3%. Some subgroups shine: special education students rank in the 74th percentile statewide and English language learners in the 53rd, while low-income students rank in the 28th. Reducing absenteeism and strengthening math, science, and social studies instruction appear to be the biggest opportunities.
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