Summary:
ZIP code 53597 is served by exactly one high school: Waunakee High, a grades 9–12 school in Waunakee, Wisconsin enrolling 1,335 students and belonging to the Waunakee Community School District. Families here effectively have one public high school option, so the useful question is not how it compares with a local rival but how it stacks up against the rest of Wisconsin — and it stacks up very well.
Waunakee High holds 5 stars in every year of its rank history, with a notable rebound pattern: 17th of 431 in 2023–2024 (96th percentile), 42nd of 431 in 2024–2025 (90th percentile), and 8th of 533 in 2025–2026 (98th percentile) — roughly the top 1.5% of ranked state high schools in this data. The district ranks 27th of 432, in the 94th percentile, also with 5 stars. Proficiency for 10th graders in 2025–2026 was 78.40% in Mathematics (state 42.93%), 76.23% in Social Studies (48.25%), 75.96% in English Language Arts (48.47%), and 72.70% in Science (43.20%). Year-over-year gains were large: ELA climbed 21.84 points while the state moved -0.15, and Mathematics rose 14.60 points against a state change of +0.20.
Outcome measures are strong as well. The graduation rate is 98.7% versus the state's 92.0%, and the dropout rate is 0.0% versus 1.1% statewide. Chronic absenteeism is 13.1%, below the state's 17.3% but slightly above the district's 11.6%, suggesting some attendance friction specific to the high school. For context, 9.06% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, per-student spending is $16,843, and the student-teacher ratio is 12.9:1. Overall, this is a top-decile school with 5-star ratings, excellent completion outcomes, and proficiency well above state averages, paired with unusually sharp recent improvement in English Language Arts and Mathematics.
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