The top reported proficiency rate is 20% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Fort Crook Elementary School
Fort Crook Elementary School is a regular public school in the Bellevue Public Schools system, serving students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Located in the southern part of Bellevue, the school sits in a suburban city that is deeply shaped by its proximity to Offutt Air Force Base, home to U.S. Strategic Command. The base has long been the area’s dominant employer, and the city’s growth has been driven by military and defense-related employment, as well as civilian expansion along the Kennedy Freeway corridor. Bellevue is an older, car-oriented suburb with a population that has recently held steady after rapid growth in the 1990s, and it has a mix of residential neighborhoods and commercial strips rather than a concentrated downtown. Families moving to the area should expect a low-density suburban environment where driving is a necessity, and where many families have ties to the military or defense sector.
Fort Crook Elementary itself is a mid-sized school for its grade span. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is majority white, with a sizable Hispanic population and smaller shares of students who are Black, Asian, or of two or more races. The school shares a zip code with housing values that are above the state median, and rents that are moderate relative to national income levels, suggesting that the immediate area is reasonably affordable by national standards but not cheap.
Academically, Fort Crook Elementary’s state testing results are a central concern. According to the most recent Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System data, proficiency rates in reading and math were well below typical levels for schools in the district and county. In the most recent school year, the school’s overall proficiency index, which averages performance across tested grades and subjects, was the lowest among comparable schools in Sarpy County; the comparison set of county districts placed the school in the bottom quartile for proficiency. This means that families looking at Fort Crook should be aware that its students, as a group, are not meeting state proficiency benchmarks at rates similar to other area elementary schools. The data shows that this is a pattern across multiple grade levels: in fourth-grade reading, for example, the proficiency rate was a small minority of students, and in sixth-grade reading it was also modest. Math proficiency rates were reported as zero across all tested grades, a result that parents will want to discuss directly with the school to understand the context behind the numbers.
Given that the school serves grades PK through six, there is no high school graduation rate to consider, and the school does not serve grades that take the state science assessment beyond fifth grade, where no students were reported as proficient. The school’s enrollment is not large, and its grade-by-grade counts suggest stable class sizes that are manageable for a suburban elementary school.
The district itself, Bellevue Public Schools, does not appear to have undergone any major recent changes such as bond issues or curriculum overhauls that would be visible in available public reporting. Families should verify directly with the district whether any initiatives are underway that might affect Fort Crook’s academic support, instruction, or programming.
For a parent, the key factors here are straightforward. The school sits in a stable suburban community with a clear economic anchor in the air force base, and the housing market is relatively attainable compared to national averages. But the academic picture is one of weakness. The low proficiency rates, especially the reported zero percent in math across multiple grade levels, are a significant data point that any family considering this school would want to investigate thoroughly. It is possible that the school has programs or supports not captured in the testing data, but the available evidence points to a school where most students are not meeting state learning standards. A parent may want to look into this further with the school to understand what interventions, instructional approaches, or resources are in place, and whether the school’s trajectory suggests improvement. The community and setting may appeal to families connected to the base or those who prefer a quiet, residential environment, but the academic outcomes, as currently measured, are a notable soft spot.
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