The top reported proficiency rate is 27% in Math. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Lake Maloney Elementary School
Lake Maloney Elementary School is a regular public school in North Platte, Nebraska, serving students from prekindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the North Platte Public Schools district. The school sits in a community shaped by the Union Pacific Railroad’s Bailey Yard, the world’s largest rail classification yard, and a mix of residential neighborhoods, farmland, and commercial corridors. Much of the newer commercial development has moved toward the I-80 and U.S. Route 83 interchange, but the downtown Canteen District offers a more walkable traditional main street.
The school’s enrollment is small, with one classroom per grade at most. The student body is predominantly white, with small shares of Hispanic and Asian students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, indicating that a portion of families face economic pressures. Housing in the surrounding area is moderately priced compared to national averages, and the city’s population has been stable over recent decades. Major employers in North Platte include the railroad, a regional health system, and a newer meatpacking plant that opened in 2025. The overall economic context is steady but not fast-growing.
State testing data from the most recent year presents an unusual picture. In fourth grade, where enough students were enrolled to report results, proficiency rates in both math and English language arts were strong. Most other grade levels, however, show no reported proficiency at all. This is almost certainly the result of very small class sizes rather than actual student performance: when a grade has only a handful of students, state testing rules often suppress the data to protect privacy. Third grade, for example, has fewer than twenty students total, and fifth grade is similarly small. That means the overall proficiency index used to compare this school to other schools in Lincoln County places it in a low position, but that index is heavily weighted by those suppressed zero values. A parent who wants to understand how students in the early primary grades or fifth grade are doing academically would need to ask the school directly for internal assessments or classroom-level information.
The comparison to other Lincoln County districts uses a proficiency index that combines all tested subjects and grades. Because Lake Maloney’s index is pulled down by the suppressed grades, its relative standing is lower than what the fourth-grade results alone would suggest. For any family considering the school, the key question is whether the small class sizes and the uncertainty around test data for most grades are acceptable. Many parents value small settings precisely because they allow for more individual attention, but the trade-off is that school-level state accountability metrics become less meaningful.
No data is available on special education services or English learner supports. The school’s staffing, discipline rates, and chronic absenteeism were also not reported, so a parent may want to ask the school or district about those directly. The district brief turned up no recent policy changes or notable developments to report.
In terms of setting, Lake Maloney Elementary is located on the east side of North Platte, not far from the Correction Line Road area. The city itself has an auto-oriented layout outside the downtown core, with scenic walking trails and parks available. Families live in a mix of older neighborhoods and newer subdivisions. The school’s small size means a child is likely to be well-known to staff, and the grade configuration means students feed into a middle school after fifth grade. For a family that wants a straightforward elementary experience in a stable, mid-sized Plains town and is comfortable with limited public test data for most grade levels, Lake Maloney is a reasonable fit. For those who prioritize having transparent, school-wide academic metrics across all grades, it may be worth a conversation with the principal about how the school tracks progress in its smallest classrooms.
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