Highland Community School

Highland Community School is a PK–8 school serving 387 students at 1706 W Highland Ave. in Milwaukee, part of the Milwaukee School District, which ranks 418th of 432 districts statewide (3rd percentile, 0 stars). Despite that district context, Highland is the academic standout of its immediate neighborhood: it has climbed steadily from the 17th percentile (1 star) in the mid-2010s to a stable 43rd percentile (2 stars) today, and has held that 2-star rating for five consecutive reporting years.

Attendance is Highland's single strongest differentiator. Its chronic absenteeism rate of 15.0% in 2024–25 is below the Wisconsin average (17.3%) and far below the district's 46.2% — roughly one-quarter the rate of nearby schools such as Brown Street Academy (55.3%) and Westside Academy (60.5%). On the 2025–26 Forward Exam, Highland students scored above the state average in most English language arts grades, reaching 75% proficiency in 7th grade and 74% in 8th; 8th-grade social studies reached 87.18%, more than 22 points above the state. Math is the relative weak point — below state in grades 3–6, at or slightly above state in grades 7–8 — though it has recovered sharply from a 2022–23 trough.

Results vary by student group. African American students ranked 8th of 150 schools statewide (95th percentile, 5 stars) in 2025–26, while students from low-income families ranked 23rd percentile (1 star), down from 45th the prior year, and special education students have slipped from 4 stars to 3 over three years. About 40.57% of Highland students qualify for free or reduced lunch — less than half the rate of nearly every neighbor, all of which are 0- or 1-star schools; even the nearest PK–8 peer, Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language, ranks 1,013th of 1,039. Per-student spending rose about 52% (from $13,762 in 2019–20 to $20,901 in 2024–25) while the student–teacher ratio fell from 18.0 to 13.3.