Original Research by School Decision on Vel Phillips Memorial High School
Vel Phillips Memorial High School is a large regular public high school in Madison, part of the Madison Metropolitan School District. It serves grades nine through twelve on the city’s west side, near the intersection of South Gammon Road and Mineral Point Road. The school is named after Vel Phillips, a civil rights leader and the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and the first to serve as a Wisconsin judge.
The student body is diverse across multiple dimensions. In terms of racial and ethnic composition, the largest share of students are white, followed by a substantial Hispanic population, a notable Black student population, and smaller but still significant numbers of Asian students and students identifying with two or more races. American Indian and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students each represent a very small share. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting a range of household incomes within the school community. Enrollment hovers in the range of a large high school, with each grade level carrying roughly a similar number of students.
Academic performance data from state assessments is not available in the information provided here. The testing results that exist in the record are for grade levels that this school does not serve, and no high school state testing results are present. As a result, the typical comparison against other high schools in Dane County cannot be drawn here. A parent or guardian would want to look directly to the school or district for information on ACT scores, course pass rates, or other indicators of academic achievement. Similarly, the four-year graduation rate is not reported in this profile, and civil rights data such as discipline, chronic absenteeism, or staffing ratios are absent. The school’s website and district communications would be necessary to fill those gaps.
Madison itself is a mid-sized state capital and university city with a mixed economic base of government, education, healthcare, information technology, and agribusiness. The University of Wisconsin–Madison, the state government, and UW Health are among the largest employers, with Epic Systems as the largest private-sector employer in the broader area. The city has a reputation for progressive politics and high quality of life. Downtown is built on an isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona, anchored by the Capitol Square and the pedestrian State Street mall that connects to the university campus. The city is recognized as bicycle-friendly, with many parks and lakefront paths. Madison has been growing rapidly, drawing population from its expanding education and tech sectors, and annexed a large portion of the Town of Madison in the early 2020s. The school’s location on the west side places it in a part of the city that includes a mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial corridors.
Housing costs in the school’s zip code are well above the statewide and national medians, making this a relatively expensive market. Rents likewise reflect a premium. The local unemployment rate has been low, and median household incomes are above the national figure, consistent with an economy dominated by professional, educational, and government employment. A family moving to this area should expect to pay a premium for housing compared to many other parts of Wisconsin.
The Madison Metropolitan School District is the largest district in Wisconsin. No recent district-specific developments, such as building projects or policy changes, surfaced in the records examined here, so readers should consult the district’s own public updates for current operational news.
In sum, Vel Phillips Memorial High School is a large, diverse comprehensive high school in a growing, economically strong urban setting. The absence of reported test scores and graduation outcomes means that a parent’s main window into the school’s academic track record will come from the school itself. The community context—a university town with solid employment and rising housing costs—shapes the experience students have outside the classroom.
See more original research from School Decision →