The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Silver Lake High School
Silver Lake High School sits in the small rural village of Roseland, Nebraska, about a dozen miles southwest of Hastings. The school serves grades seven through twelve and is the secondary campus of the Silver Lake Public Schools district. The village itself is compact, a residential grid with a Village Hall and not much else in the way of commercial or civic infrastructure; families likely rely on Hastings for most shopping, services, and employment. The population has seen a modest uptick in recent years, but Roseland remains a very small place, and this school reflects that scale.
With a total enrollment that is small for a school covering six grades, Silver Lake High School offers an environment where most students will know one another and the faculty well. The student body is overwhelmingly white, with small numbers of Hispanic and Black students. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that places this school within a common range for rural Nebraska. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it is not a Title I school, though the data for that designation was absent.
The academic picture here is limited by what is available to report. The school reported state assessment results for the most recent year in math, English language arts, and science, but every tested grade and subject showed a zero percent proficiency rate. This is an unusual result, and it may be tied to a data reporting issue, a change in assessment, or a very small cohort that did not meet the proficiency bar. The multi-year trend data complicates the picture: it shows that in prior years the school recorded a proficiency rate of just under sixty percent in English language arts and about forty-five percent in science across all tested grades, with math at zero percent even then. Those earlier numbers suggest that the school has had some academic success recently, and that the current year's zeros may not represent a normal year. The jump from a prior proficiency rate to a zero is something a parent would want to clarify directly with the school or district, as the available data does not explain the shift.
There is no graduation rate reported for this school. The academic comparison within Adams County places Silver Lake High School in the bottom quartile among the county's five districts for overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. That position is drawn from the available test data, but given the unusual recent numbers, it is prudent to treat that ranking cautiously rather than as a settled judgment.
The school offers no data on chronic absenteeism, discipline, staffing, or course access, so it is not possible to describe the school's learning environment, teacher qualifications, or curriculum breadth from the evidence here. The school's small size may mean a limited menu of electives and Advanced Placement or dual-credit offerings, but that is speculation; the data does not confirm or deny it.
Housing in Roseland is modestly priced relative to national and state benchmarks, with home values below the state median and below the national median. A family moving here would find an affordable entry point, particularly if they are comfortable with a rural setting and a long drive to amenities. The cost of living is below the national average, and the village's recent growth has been slight.
Silver Lake High School is a place where a student will be well known, in a community that is quiet and rural. But critical pieces of the academic picture are either missing or show results that demand explanation. A family considering this school would be wise to talk directly with the administration about current year test performance, high school course pathways, postsecondary outcomes, and the graduation rate, none of which the available data resolves on its own.
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