The top reported proficiency rate is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Alma High School
Alma High School serves grades seven through twelve in the small, rural county-seat town of Alma, Nebraska, as part of Alma Public Schools. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it is the only high school in the district. With an enrollment that is small for a secondary school serving six grade levels, the student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small numbers of Hispanic, Asian, and multiracial students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source materials.
The school sits in a town that is experiencing population decline, a pattern common across much of the Great Plains. Alma’s population has been shrinking over recent decades, though median home values have risen significantly, and estimated median household income has also increased. The local economy is built around agriculture, cattle feeding, tourism tied to the Harlan County Reservoir, and retail sales. There is no single large employer; the economic base is a mix of small agricultural, retail, and service businesses. The town is compact, with a Main Street commercial core and the county courthouse anchoring downtown. Walkability is typical of a small Plains town, meaning the town itself is walkable but the built environment is oriented around automobile travel on the U.S. highways that intersect there.
State testing data for Alma High School shows a pattern that a parent will want to examine closely. For the most recent testing year, the reported proficiency rate in math for seventh grade was zero percent, and the same was true for eighth-grade math, seventh-grade English language arts, eighth-grade English language arts, and eighth-grade science. These are the only grade-level results available for that year. However, the school’s multi-year trend data tells a different story. In earlier years, the school posted proficiency rates that were substantially higher, with the all-grades combined math rate reaching a level that would be considered strong and the all-grades combined English language arts rate also reaching a solid level. The most recent year’s results represent a sharp drop from those earlier figures. A parent will want to ask the school directly about what drove this change, whether it reflects a shift in the student cohort, a change in the test, or something else. The trend data shows that the school has historically performed at a much higher level than the most recent single-year numbers suggest.
The school serves grades seven through twelve, so there is no elementary-level data here. The district, Alma Public Schools, operates as a single system for the town. No recent parent-relevant changes, such as boundary adjustments, program launches, or leadership turnover, were found in publicly available sources.
Housing in the Alma area is notably more affordable than the national median home value, and the estimated monthly mortgage payment on a typical home is modest. The town’s population is declining, but property values have risen, and estimated household income has also increased. For a family considering a move, the housing market offers relatively low entry costs compared to much of the country, set within a shrinking but stable rural community.
The comparison data that would place Alma High School relative to other districts in Harlan County was not usable, because the county contains only one district. There is no peer set within the county to measure against. The school stands alone in its county context.
Alma High School is a small, rural secondary school in a shrinking town with a history of solid academic performance on state tests, though the most recent results show a sharp drop that warrants a direct conversation with the school. The student body is almost entirely white, and a notable share of families are low-income. The housing market is affordable relative to national benchmarks, and the community is quiet, compact, and oriented around agriculture and the nearby reservoir. For a family that values a very small school setting in a rural Great Plains town, Alma High School offers that environment, with the caveat that the most recent test scores raise questions the school itself is best positioned to answer.
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