The top reported proficiency rate is 19% in Math. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Centennial Elementary School
Centennial Elementary School in Utica, Nebraska, serves students from preschool through fifth grade as part of the Centennial Public Schools district. The village itself is a small, incorporated community in Seward County, part of the Lincoln metropolitan area, with a slowly declining population and a housing stock that is mostly owner-occupied. The school sits within this rural setting, and the district appears to have undergone no major bond measures, curriculum overhauls, or tax changes in recent years that would be immediately relevant to a family deciding to enroll here.
The student body is small and racially homogeneous, with a clear majority of white students and a modest share of students from other racial backgrounds. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a figure that places the school’s economic profile in a familiar range for a small-town Nebraska elementary school. No data was available on the share of students receiving special education services or designated as English learners, so a parent may want to ask the school about those supports directly.
Academically, the picture is mixed and warrants a close look. State assessment results from the most recent testing year show a striking split across grade levels. Fourth graders posted strong proficiency rates in both math and English language arts, with the math result particularly solid. But the same tests for third and fifth graders reported no students reaching the proficient level in either subject, and science results for grade five were also at zero. The data does not explain why performance dropped so sharply in these grades. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, places Centennial Elementary in the bottom quarter among districts in Seward County. That index is pulled down by the very low scores in grades three and five, while grade four’s performance is notably higher. A parent would want to understand the instructional differences between these grades and what support is in place for students who are not meeting benchmarks.
Because the school serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to consider, and data on chronic absenteeism and discipline were not available in the records we reviewed. There is no information about course access or staffing ratios, either. A parent considering this school will need to supplement the public data with a conversation at the school about class sizes, teacher experience, and how the school addresses gaps in achievement from one grade to the next.
The housing market in Utica shows home values that are modest relative to national and state benchmarks, with a year-over-year increase that outpaced the broader Nebraska trend. That combination of lower entry cost and rising values may appeal to families looking for affordability in a slowly depopulating village where the school anchors the community. The district brief turned up no recent announcements of programming shifts or new facilities, so the academic program appears stable and unchanged in its structure.
For families who value a small, rural elementary setting in a quiet village, Centennial Elementary offers that context. The academic evidence, however, points to real variability across grades. The strong fourth-grade results sit alongside two grade levels where no student reached proficiency at all. That discrepancy is the central concern a parent should investigate directly with the school, along with learning more about the support systems for struggling students and the consistency of instruction across the primary and upper elementary grades.
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