The top reported proficiency rate is 70% in Science. The lowest is 29% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on David City Secondary School
David City Secondary School is a regular public school serving grades seven through twelve in the small county seat of David City, Nebraska. It is the only public secondary school in the David City Public Schools district, and it draws from the town and surrounding rural areas of Butler County.
The school’s academic picture is sharply uneven and comes with important gaps in the record. State assessment results are available only for seventh and eighth grade, not for the high school grades the school also serves. Among the tested grades, performance varies widely by subject and grade level. In eighth grade, most students met the state proficiency standard in English language arts and in science. Seventh grade math was closer to the midpoint, with a majority of students proficient. In two instances the reported proficiency rate was zero: seventh grade ELA and eighth grade math. That is an unusual pattern, and a parent would want to ask the school directly what those figures reflect, especially given that the same grade scored well in science and the same subject produced a reasonable result at the other grade. No high school state assessment results appear in the data, so there is no public testing picture for grades nine through twelve. The graduation rate is also missing, which is a notable absence for a school that runs a full high school program.
Overall, when the available test scores are combined into a single proficiency index, the school places in the bottom quartile relative to the two school districts in Butler County. That comparison is very limited—only two districts—but it still indicates that the published numbers for the middle grades lag behind the county’s other district.
The student body is roughly the size typical for a combined middle and high school in this region. The student population is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic minority making up most of the remainder. Just under half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure that signals a moderate level of economic need. Data on students with disabilities and English learners were not available from the state.
David City itself is a slow-growing community with an agricultural and industrial base. The historic downtown centers on E Street, where the county courthouse and city offices are located. Civic anchors include a public nine-hole golf course, a park system, a recently opened aquatic center, the Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, and the Butler County Fairgrounds. The town publishes a weekly newspaper. Housing values in the area are moderately priced relative to the state, and the market has seen some appreciation. No major new housing developments were identified in the search.
The district has had no publicly reported changes in recent years—no referenda, curriculum overhauls, or tax shifts that would meet the bar of lasting impact. That means a family moving into the area should not expect any short-term disruption or new initiative, but also should not assume any recent investments beyond the new aquatic center in the town.
For a family considering this school, the core takeaway is that the middle grades show a puzzling split between strong science and reading results in eighth grade and zeros in seventh grade ELA and eighth grade math. Without high school testing data or a graduation rate, the school’s performance at the upper level is an unknown. The school is the only public option in the district, and the alternative in town is a Catholic high school. A parent would be well served to visit, ask about the assessment gaps, and request internal data on college-going and postsecondary readiness before making a decision. The community offers a quiet, affordable small-town setting with typical amenities for this part of Nebraska.
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