Summary:
Zip code 53189, covering the western edge of Waukesha, Wisconsin, is served by a single public high school: West High, a grades 9–12 campus with 1,167 students in the Waukesha School District. With only one high school in the area, families are evaluating one option rather than comparing several — and that option is a strong one. West High ranks in the 86th percentile of Wisconsin high schools with a 4-star rating, its best relative position in three years. Its home district is mid-tier by comparison (57th percentile, 3 stars), so the school clearly outpaces the Waukesha School District it belongs to.
Academically, West High beats both its district and the state in every subject, in both years of available test data — an 8-for-8 record with no exceptions. On average it runs roughly 11 points above the district and roughly 12 points above the state. Its best single result was 10th-grade English Language Arts in 2024–2025 at 68.21% proficient, 15.4 points above the district and 19.6 points above the state. Trends diverge: math rose nearly 6 points (48.93% to 54.92%) and science rose about 2 points, while social studies slipped about 2 points and ELA fell nearly 8 points to 60.23% — still one of the school's strongest subjects. Social studies uses the Forward Exam while ELA, math and science use the ACT, so cross-subject comparisons are directional only.
Outcomes reinforce the academic picture: a 96.4% graduation rate, above the district's 92.6% and the state's 92.0%, and a reported 0.0% dropout rate. The one soft spot is chronic absenteeism at 16.2% — about one in six students — which is 1.3 points above the district but still below the state's 17.3%. Roughly one in five students (21.25%) qualifies for free or reduced lunch, spending is $14,320 per student, and the student-teacher ratio is 17.4:1. In short, this is a large, ordinarily-resourced comprehensive high school producing consistently above-average results.
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