Summary
East High is a comprehensive 9–12 high school at 2222 E Washington Ave in Madison, Wisconsin, serving 1,643 students — the second-largest high school in the Madison Metropolitan School District, behind West High and ahead of LaFollette High. Its district ranks 321st of 432 Wisconsin districts (26th percentile), a struggling urban context rather than a high-performing suburban one.
The headline story is a sharp upward turn. After years in the bottom quartile, East rose to 268th of 533 Wisconsin high schools (50th percentile, 3 stars) in 2025–26, its best showing since a one-year 2020–21 spike that did not hold. Proficiency rose in every tested subject, led by 10th-grade ELA climbing from 36.96% to 51.52% — above the state average and the only subject where East beats Wisconsin norms. Science sits essentially at the state line, while Math (38.72%) and Social Studies (42.43%) remain below district and state. The gains came even as free/reduced lunch rose from 51.7% to 57.9%. Attendance is the biggest constraint: 45.8% of students were chronically absent in 2024–25, roughly 2.6 times the statewide 17.3%. Graduation is 84.3%, near the district's 84.6% but 7.7 points below the state, and per-pupil spending rose 23.5% to $19,014. Low-income students rank in the 21st percentile, the school's most persistent weak spot.
Against LaFollette High — the closest mirror, with nearly identical poverty rates, size, and spending — East leads by 15 points in ELA and 11–16 points in every other subject, suggesting school-level practice rather than intake. The district flagship West High (94th percentile, 5 stars) is far ahead, though its free/reduced lunch rate is 34.3% versus East's 57.9%. Monona Grove High posts 95.2% graduation and 19.5% chronic absenteeism on $16,789 per pupil, about $2,200 less than East.
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