The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in Math. The lowest is 65% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Cambridge Public Schools
Cambridge Public Schools is a small, rural district in Nebraska’s Furnas County that serves about 280 students from preschool through twelfth grade across three buildings: an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. The district’s enrollment is compact, with roughly similar numbers in each grade, and the student body is overwhelmingly white, with a small Hispanic population and a handful of students from other racial backgrounds. Data on economic disadvantage and special education participation were not available, so it is difficult to assess the level of need or support resources from those angles.
The most notable feature of this district is its size. Because classes are very small, state assessment results are frequently suppressed to protect student privacy. For the most recent testing year, math proficiency was reported for only one grade level, fourth grade, where a large majority of students met the state’s proficiency standard. In English language arts, results were reported for sixth grade, and about two-thirds of students were proficient. No results were reportable for other tested grades or for science. Taken together, the available data points suggest academic performance that is above the midpoint when compared with the other district in Furnas County, but the limited visibility means a family cannot get a full picture of achievement across all grades from test scores alone. The district’s chronic absenteeism rate is low relative to the same county peers, a positive sign for consistent attendance. Per-pupil spending falls in the upper half of the county range, indicating a modest but not exceptional level of financial investment.
The housing market in the communities served by the district is modest. Typical home values are below both the state and national medians, and have seen a noticeable decline in the most recent year. For a family considering a move to the area, housing is relatively affordable, but the market is soft. Economic context at the national level shows mortgage rates around six and a half percent and a stable unemployment rate, but the local district-specific economic picture beyond housing costs was not available.
Cambridge Public Schools has not undergone any major parent-relevant changes recently. A search for referendums, bonds, curriculum shifts, property tax overrides, or capital projects turned up only routine district profile information with no lasting changes to report. This suggests a period of stability, but also means there is no recent initiative a prospective parent could evaluate as a signal of direction or improvement.
The district’s small size shapes nearly everything about it. Class sizes are inherently small, which can allow for closer relationships between students and teachers, but it also means that program offerings may be limited. The data did not include information on advanced coursework, dual enrollment, career and technical education, or extracurricular breadth, so a family would need to contact the district directly to understand what is available at the high school level. The middle and elementary schools share the same small-scale environment.
For a parent or resident weighing this district, the key considerations are the very homogeneous student population, the limited test-score visibility due to small cohorts, the affordable but declining housing market, and the lack of recent district-level changes. The district appears to be performing adequately on the metrics that are reportable, but the thin academic data means that a family should ask detailed questions about curriculum, enrichment, and postsecondary preparation to fill in the gaps. This is a place that fits a family looking for a small rural school with stable operations and without major disruption, but where the usual transparency around academic results is constrained by the numbers themselves.
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