The top reported proficiency rate is 13% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on High Plains Community Elementary School
High Plains Community Elementary School serves students from preschool through sixth grade in the small rural village of Clarks, Nebraska. The school is part of the High Plains Community Schools district, which was formed through consolidation after Clarks’ own K-12 school closed when the village’s local school system merged with those in Polk, Hordville, and Marquette. Clarks itself is a tiny village of a few hundred people, primarily residential, with a handful of businesses along US Highway 30 such as Clarks Ag Supply and Bank of Clarks. The village has experienced a modest population decline in recent years, and most residents commute elsewhere for work, often to Central City or Grand Island. The school building sits on Pearl Street, a short walk from the highway strip that serves as the village’s commercial spine.
The student body is small for an elementary school serving this grade band, and it is overwhelmingly white, with a smaller share of Hispanic students. About a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that places the school in a middle range relative to national norms for economic need. The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report.
State testing results for the most recent school year present a fragmented picture. In third-grade English language arts, a little more than half of students met proficiency standards. In every other tested grade and subject, the reported proficiency rate was a flat zero percent, including fourth, fifth, and sixth grade English language arts, all tested grades in math, and fifth-grade science. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested grades and subjects, places it in the bottom quartile compared to other districts in Merrick County. A parent considering this school should understand that the testing data shows very low measured performance in most areas, with the exception of a single third-grade ELA result that was closer to the state midpoint. It would be reasonable to ask the school directly how it supports students in math and reading, and what the numbers reflect about instruction and assessment in those grades.
The multi-year trend data, which runs through five years, shows that the school has seen movement in its results. In English language arts, the proficiency rate for all tested students combined was higher in the first year of the trend window than in the most recent year. Math proficiency also declined over the same period, and science proficiency has been reported as at or near zero throughout. These trends reinforce the picture of low and declining academic performance.
Data on special populations such as students with disabilities and English learners was not available, so it is not possible to assess how the school serves those groups. Information on school discipline, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism was also absent from the available records. For a small rural school with limited publicly reported detail, a parent may want to visit in person or speak with the principal to get a fuller sense of programs and daily operations.
The district itself reported no recent major changes such as boundary shifts, curriculum overhauls, or facility referendums in the available materials. That leaves the school’s core profile: a small, predominantly white elementary school in a shrinking rural village, serving early grades only, with state testing results that are weak across most subjects and grade levels. For a family that values a very small school environment and a quiet rural setting, High Plains Community Elementary offers those conditions plainly. For a family focused on academic performance data, the testing record gives clear reason to investigate further.
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