Original Research by School Decision on Lincoln Elementary School
Lincoln Elementary School sits in the city of Lincoln, a residential suburb of Bismarck that grew out of a mid-century housing development and has expanded rapidly since. The community is young and family-oriented, with a large share of households including children under eighteen and a median age well below many neighboring areas. Commercial development here is limited; most residents commute into Bismarck for work, shopping, and regional amenities. The housing market reflects that growth. Home values in the school's zip code run above the state benchmark and sit just under the national one, with rents remaining relatively affordable compared with owning. For a family weighing where to land, Lincoln offers suburban calm with quick access to Bismarck's employment base and services.
The school serves kindergarten through fifth grade and is part of Bismarck Public School District 1, the largest district in North Dakota. Students from Lincoln Elementary feed into Wachter Middle School and Bismarck High School, both in Bismarck proper. Lincoln Elementary itself was the first public school built within the city, opened to serve the growing residential population after years of busing children into Bismarck. The district has been investing in facilities, operating under a bond referendum passed in 2020 and recently opening a rebuilt Roosevelt Elementary, reflecting a broader effort to keep pace with enrollment growth across its schools.
At Lincoln Elementary, the student body is sizeable for an elementary building, with enrollment spread fairly evenly across the six grade levels. The school is predominantly white, with a smaller portion of students identifying as two or more races, Hispanic, or American Indian and Alaska Native. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch is modest, lower than what many public elementary schools see. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not available, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about the range of specialized services and language support it provides.
Academically, the most recent state assessment results come from the ND A-PLUS, which is a new assessment with revised proficiency cut scores. Because of those changes, trend comparisons to prior years are not available, so the current results stand as a baseline rather than a continuation of an established pattern. Participation was very high across all tested grades and subjects.
In math, proficiency rates across third, fourth, and fifth grades fall in a moderate band, with fifth grade reaching the upper end among the three. Fourth-grade math sits in the middle. English language arts results show more variation. Third and fifth grade land in a lower range, while fourth grade reaches higher, closer to the math figures. Science was tested only in fourth grade, and the proficiency rate there sits in a moderate range comparable to the school's math results. Taken together, the data suggests math is the relatively stronger subject area, while English language arts has softer spots, particularly in the third and fifth grades. A parent weighing academic fit may want to look into how the school supports literacy growth across the elementary span and what interventions or enrichment are available in reading.
Because this is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate or advanced coursework to speak of, and those metrics simply do not apply here. Program offerings, staffing details, discipline data, attendance figures, and civil-rights reporting were not included in the available data, so we cannot characterize those aspects from the record. A family considering Lincoln Elementary would do well to ask the school directly about extracurriculars, class sizes, specialist staffing, and any Title I programming, since none of that appears in what was provided.
What the data does show is a growing suburban elementary school in a district actively investing in its facilities, serving a community where housing costs have climbed but remain within reach relative to the regional market. The academic results are mixed but not weak, strongest in math and science, with room to grow in literacy. For a family drawn to Lincoln's residential character and proximity to Bismarck, the school represents a solid neighborhood option with the backing of a large, resource-rich district behind it.
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