Summary:
ZIP code 53703 contains two middle schools, both serving grades 6–8 in the Madison Metropolitan School District: O'Keeffe Middle with 434 students and Badger Rock Middle with 92 students, for a combined 526 students. The district overall is ranked 321 of 432 in Wisconsin, at the 26th percentile with 1 star, which makes the difference between these two schools especially striking.
O'Keeffe Middle is the standout. Its rank history moved from the 74th percentile and 4 stars in 2023–2024, to the 67th percentile and 3 stars in 2024–2025, then the 65th percentile and 3 stars in 2025–2026 — still the top third of Wisconsin middle schools and far above the district. In 2025–2026 it was above the district on all 8 reported Forward Exam tests and above the state on 6 of 8, led by Social Studies 8 at 72.31% and Mathematics 7 at 68.38%. Chronic absenteeism was 26.8%, below the district's 29.6% but above the state's 17.3%; 42.86% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, per-student spending is $19,289, the student-teacher ratio is 11.7, and the dropout rate is 0.0%.
Badger Rock Middle looks very different. It has been 1 star in all three reported years and ranks in the 21st–24th percentile, near or slightly below the district. In 2025–2026 it was below both the district and state in all 8 reported tests; math was weakest, at 25% in Math 6, 20.83% in Math 7 and 29.41% in Math 8. Its free/reduced lunch rate is 54.35%, absenteeism 32.6%, per-student spending $25,574, student-teacher ratio 9.4, and dropout rate 0.0%. The proficiency gap between the two schools runs about 13 to 48 percentage points, largest in Math 7 at 47.55 points. With only 92 students, Badger Rock's percentages can swing more from year to year.
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