The top reported proficiency rate is 84% in Science. The lowest is 0% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Fullerton Elementary School
Fullerton Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade in the small Nance County seat of Fullerton, Nebraska. The school is part of Fullerton Public Schools, a single-district system that covers the town and the surrounding rural area. Fullerton itself is a compact agricultural county seat where the economy rests on value-added ag facilities, medical clinics, the school system, and supporting retail and service businesses. The town’s population has seen a modest decline over recent years, and housing is notably affordable. The district added a pre-kindergarten program in 2025, operated cooperatively with a community action partnership, extending the district’s grade span and giving local families an early childhood option within the public system.
The student body is small and overwhelmingly white, with a modest share of students identifying as Black and very small shares identifying as Hispanic or as two or more races. Just over two-fifths of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that indicates a meaningful level of economic need in the community. The school serves only early and middle grades, so there is no graduation rate to report and no high school course access data that would apply.
State assessment results from 2024-25 are available, and they present a mixed and somewhat unusual picture. In fifth-grade science, a large majority of students scored proficient, a strong result. Fifth-grade English language arts also showed a majority proficient, though a more moderate one. However, for every other tested grade and subject, the reported proficiency rate fell to zero. That includes math and English language arts for third, fourth, and sixth grade, and math for fifth grade as well. The data shows that zero percent of tested students in those grade-subject combinations met the proficiency bar. This is a stark pattern. A parent reading this will want to understand what is behind it. One possibility the data does not explicitly confirm but that could explain the pattern is a very small number of tested students in those grades, where a single student not proficient can produce a zero rate. Another possibility is a data-reporting issue. Regardless, the reported numbers are what the state published, and they show that outside of fifth grade, proficiency across both math and English language arts was not achieved by any student in the grades tested. This is the sort of result that warrants a direct conversation with the school to understand the context, the instructional approach, and what support is available for students who are not yet meeting the state standard.
The trend data, which aggregates across all tested grades, adds a layer of nuance but does not resolve the puzzle. The combined English language arts proficiency across all tested students in 2024-25 was about three-quarters of the combined rate from a single earlier point, but the trend data covers only one year and offers no clear trajectory. The combined math proficiency across all tested students also fell steeply from a high earlier point to zero. Science, by contrast, moved from a zero combined rate to a high one. Without a multi-year pattern with comparable assessments, it is hard to draw a firm conclusion about direction.
Fullerton faces a limitation for comparison. The county has only two districts, so there is no reliable basis for ranking or positioning a single school against peers within Nance County. A parent considering Fullerton Elementary will need to rely on direct inquiry rather than a local benchmark. The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and it does not report a Title I status, which leaves open a question about the federal support it may access.
The district brief notes that the 2024-25 property tax levy was set at a level that, after a state school tax credit, resulted in an effective rate lower than the prior year. That is a concrete change that affects the cost of living for district residents. No information was available on discipline rates, chronic absenteeism, staffing ratios, or special education and English learner counts, so a parent would need to ask the school directly about those dimensions of school environment and student support. For a family looking at this small-town school, the primary takeaways are the stark proficiency pattern that needs explanation, the affordable housing in a declining but stable agricultural town, and an early childhood program that is very new.
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