About Us
Welcome to Black Hawk Middle School!
At Black Hawk, we believe all students can learn and grow. We believe social and emotional learning must be embedded in instruction and that we are responsible for engaging families and communities in support of learning. Black Hawk Middle School strives to educate students through engaging in collaborative and reflective practices that accelerate learning and growth. Since we are a largely diverse population, we intentionally create activities so students can feel a sense of belonging and connected at various levels of the school.
Black Hawk Middle School is a vibrant, diverse, and evolving northside Madison school. Because we hold anti-racist education as a priority in our equity vision, our staff is committed to working toward a more equitable, just, and rigorous educational experience for all students. We work toward this vision by celebrating Black Excellence, developing learning partnerships with families and students, and centering the cultural strengths of our community. We recognize that excellence for all requires many commitments: a spirit of inquiry, collaboration and discourse, asking for and listening to multiple perspectives, addressing root causes of inequity, and adapting to challenges in innovative ways. Love and joy are important as we try to create an inclusive school community where everyone feels they matter at school.
At Black Hawk our school motto is “Together we’re better.” This belief is shared by our dedicated staff, motivated student body, and supportive, involved families.
Together, we all work to support students to meet their social, emotional, and academic needs. In 2016, MMSD highlighted Black Hawk for completely shifting the school’s culture and climate in a positive direction by emphasizing our CARES curriculum (social emotional learning) and leveraging our motto: “Together we’re better.” Increased training and implementation of Restorative Justice practices with students and staff has also contributed to this shift. At Black Hawk, we have spent the past 3+ years focused on implementing Restorative approaches, Racial Equity and Social Justice practices, along with Culturally Responsive Practices building wide. We fundamentally believe that with this approach we can fully support academics and provide students with problem-solving skills. Our vision is that every student strives to be confident and capable both academically and socially, and that they leave our school as well-rounded adolescents feeling a sense of worth and belonging during their time at Black Hawk. We believe building positive relationships and partnerships with students and families is essential to supporting this vision.
It is our hope that families find their Black Hawk years to be positive, unique, meaningful, encouraging, and rewarding.
