How to research schools and school districts

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The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction publishes a lot of information about school districts and individual schools - covering Madison, Dane County and all of Wisconsin. If you're looking for information on student academic achievement, attendance and behavior, racial diversity and economic status, the WDPI has a ton of data to help you with your research. Getting to the data can be a little tricky, so we've outlined the steps below. Note: The WDPI data is just one way to evaluate a school. We highly encourage you to visit different schools, meet the staff and learn about programs before you decide on the school and school district that is best for you and your family. How to find school data on the WDPI web site Let's suppose you want to learn more about Middleton High School. Here's how you can use the WDPI site to learn more about this school. Go to http://dpi.wi.gov/index.html. Go to the Data option along the top menu and select WINSS. You'll be taken to the Wisconsin Information Network for Successful Schools (WINSS). Click the Data Analysis graphic. Next, you'll be taken to a search page. In the By District text box, enter Middleton and click Go. Click the Show Schools link. Then click the Middleton Hi link to be taken to the Middleton High School data page. Scroll to the bottom of the page. Select the Go To menu. Under Data Analysis, you'll find 4 categories: How are students performing academically? What programs, staff, and money are available? What about attendance and behavior? What are student demographics? Let's suppose you want to learn more about student academic performance. Select the menu option listed under 8.1 above. Now you have a ton of information at your fingertips. For example you can view ACT test results for reading, english, math and science. Middleton High School ACT math results over time You can even compare different schools to each other: comparing different schools Other data examples You can use the Go To menu (remember, scroll to the bottom of the screen) to research a school along a number of other angles. We've listed justed a few examples below: enrollment by race/ethnicity enrollment by economic status high school completion rates suspension rates post graduation plans Related links Madison Metropolitan School District More Madison school info from "At Home in Madison" School info for local communities GreatSchools.net About us This information is provided courtesy of Dan Miller and Shawn Kriewaldt of Keller Williams Realty and DaneCountyMarket.com. For more information, please contact Dan at 608-852-7071 (danielmiller@kw.com) or Shawn at 608-212-5743 (shawnkriewaldt@kw.com). Don't forget: if you're buying or selling, whether your timeline is 3 months or 3 years, we can help. Track the market and search for Real Estate You can receive our articles and monthly updates via email. Just go to our newsletter sign-up, enter your email address, and select your topic(s) of interest. Our real estate search tools are easy-to-use. Learn how you can simplify your search by saving your search settings, receiving email updates, and tracking your own list of "favorite" properties.  Search for South Central Wisconsin Real Estate Now Email this article to a friend: Email To: Email From: Name of Sender: Optional Message: Please enter the numbers/characters in the picture for verification *  Back