4101 Odana Rd
Madison, WI 53711

My child attended Cherokee for 6-8th grade. I think any middle school will have challenges, as it is a challenging age. My child really loved their teachers and classes. Their teacher worked with them to get additional projects to challenge them further. Some students are struggling, and so the teachers need to spend more time with the struggling students. There was on year when we had some concerns with the math instruction. The teacher was not prepared and had not been given the support she needed to be successful. She did not have a clear curriculum and there were just worksheets. However, my child was still able to succeed and completed Geometry by the end of 8th grade (through the gifted program).My child made a lot of good friends. I know that the school has attempted to deal with behavioral issues and bullying by creating the restorative justice program. My child was a facilitator for this and learned how to help other work through their issues rather than taking a punitive approach.Many of the teachers truly love what they are doing and have been there for years. One example is the band teacher, who has been there for more than 20 years. She is amazing and truly cares about her students. There are also some great math teachers.

We have had two different children attend Midvale Elementary. The first child entered in 1st grade, which was during Covid. After a few weeks, the school reached out to us to let us know that our child couldn't read. I knew this already, but I was glad the school identified it. Our child was provided with a one on one reading specialist 4 days per week until they reached the expected level they needed to. Now they are in 6th grade and reading above grade level.Our younger child has had an amazing time at Midvale. They have ADHD and the teachers have been accommodating, working with us to find ways to engage our child without punishing them for the activity level they have. I have been very happy with all of the teachers that my children have had.The school has an amazing music teacher and amazing art teacher (who just retired). The PE teacher Ms. Mo is fantastic. I've been very impressed that all children receive swimming education as well as bicycling education. Not every school offers that but those are important skills for children to learn.

Hamilton is a good school. There are a lot of disrespectful kids there though. They swear on the bus everyday and the buses are very crowded. Most of the teachers are good, but some obviously don't want to and shouldn't be teaching. One of the special ed teachers named Ms. Barrientos needs to know that she isn't the teacher and that she doesn't have to teach us things excruciatingly slow and ten times. It can also get caught and squashed in the crowds after school, before school, and on the bus (the morning bus is much less crowded). Although I like this school, they need to increase the math standards and revise their teaching technics. I have had a lot of great teachers like Ms. Kalscheur, Mr. Glanville, Ms. Klaas. The libraries and librarians are great too. I love the school they just need to work on a few things.

My sister goes to West, and she tells me how much she loves it there. They have hour-long lunches (unlike Cherokee Heights MIddle School), and she tells me about how kind and likable all of the teachers are. Even the gym teacher is incredibly thoughtful and observes the students to see what activities they enjoy the most. She also had a recent project where she'd get to choose what she wanted to do as like a fun menu styled thing. At West, they actually value kids enjoying and participating in their education (unlike Cherokee Heights Middle School). Overall, this school has been an incredible experience for my sister and I'm VERY excited to leave Cherokee and go there.

I have low stars of this school is because I fill the teacher does not really help me on helping my kids academically. My kids are happy which is good. But, I do not know what they have learned and what are their weakness. If I don't know that, how do I help them. I understand that test score is not everything, but it might be important to someone. I still believe test scores are important otherwise why is it still exist?? Teachers of my kids are very nice, but does not help me or understand the way to help my kids to improve on English and Math in particular. I strongly believe that English and Math are the fundamental. You need English to read and learn other things and math to help you have a better finance aspect in your life. I have been contacting school teachers on helping my kids on national standard tests and very few help are provided. I can easily google search those helps myself. The school is good, but I would highly appreciated that they can focus more academically (English and Math).