Madison Country Day School is a nonsectarian, private day school in

Dane County, Wisconsin Dane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin. The county seat is Madison, which is also the state capital. Dane County is the ...

for grades PreK through 12. The school has an enrollment of about 450 students. It is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS), and is a member of the

National Association of Independent Schools The National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) is a U.S.-based membership organization for private, nonprofit, K-12 schools. Founded in 1962, NAIS represents independent schools and associations in the United States, including day, boar ...

(NAIS). It is an

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...

(IB) World School that offers the

IB Diploma Program The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...

to high school students. Madison Country Day School is informally known as "MCDS".

History

The school began classes on September 2, 1997. The school was originally planned for a site in the Town of Westport donated by PDQ convenience store founder Sam Jacobsen, with buildings to be designed by Robert A. M. Stern Architects. However, when a conditional use permit was denied by the Dane County Zoning and Natural Resources Committee, the school rented quarters in a former schoolhouse in the town of Martinsville. Twenty-two students enrolled in 1997 for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and Grades 1–3. Additional grades were added one at a time. The school later moved to of land near Waunakee. A $3 million renovation project in 2001 converted sleeping rooms of the former Yahara Center into classrooms. An upper school was formed when the ninth grade was added in 2003. The first senior class graduated in the spring of 2007.Anita Clark.
Diploma Days
. ''Wisconsin State Journal'', May 25, 2007. In 2015, a fundraiser began called Spreading Our Wings. The goal was to raise 6.8 million dollars in order to expand the school. The fundraiser was named after the school mascot, the fictional Prairie Hawk.

Curriculum

MCDS is an International Baccalaureate World School and accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS) and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). MCDS enrolls students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The school has three divisions: The lower school covers pre-kindergarten through fourth grade. The middle school contains fifth through eighth, and the high school ninth through twelfth grade.

References

{{authority control Private high schools in Wisconsin International Baccalaureate schools in Wisconsin Educational institutions established in 1997 Private middle schools in Wisconsin Private elementary schools in Wisconsin Schools in Dane County, Wisconsin 1997 establishments in Wisconsin