Summary:
ZIP code 53705 contains one public high school, Capital High, serving grades 9–12 at 3802 Regent St in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of the Madison Metropolitan School District. Because it is the only high school in this ZIP code, there are no within-ZIP comparisons; families should compare Capital High with its district and with Wisconsin averages. Enrollment is 129 students.
Capital High ranks 524th of 533 high schools statewide for 2025–2026—the 2nd percentile with 0 stars—while its district ranks 321st of 432 districts, or the 26th percentile with 1 star. Its most extreme metric is chronic absenteeism: 81.3%, compared with 29.6% in the district and 17.3% statewide. Test proficiency is very low across subjects: mathematics 0%, English language arts 6.9%, science 3.57%, and social studies 8.33% on 2025–2026 assessments. Social studies proficiency also declined from 13.64% in 2024–2025. The graduation rate is 87.7%, above the district’s 84.6% but below the state’s 92.0%; the dropout rate is 3.6%, compared with 1.2% district and 1.1% state. About 84.5% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch, per-student spending is $25,317, and the student-teacher ratio is 8.6:1.
For parents, this means Capital High is a small, high-poverty, resource-intensive school with deep attendance and academic challenges. At 81.3% chronic absenteeism among 129 students, roughly 105 students may be chronically absent, leaving only about 24 not chronically absent; that scale likely affects nearly every other outcome. Although the graduation rate is better than the district’s, the higher dropout rate and uniform proficiency gaps suggest families should ask about attendance supports, intervention plans, credit recovery, and transition counseling. The school receives substantial staffing and spending per student, so the key question is how those resources are being used to improve daily attendance and classroom learning.
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