Pine Creek Elementary, Bennington NE

Original Research by School Decision on Pine Creek Elementary

Pine Creek Elementary serves prekindergarten through fifth grade in Bennington, a fast-growing suburb northwest of Omaha. The school is part of Bennington Public Schools, a district that has been expanding rapidly alongside the community it serves. The town itself is primarily residential, with subdivisions and single-family homes, and it has seen substantial population growth in recent years. The district has responded to that growth by opening a second middle school and, as publicly reported, placing a bond issue on the ballot to fund a second high school. For a family considering this area, the growth context matters: the community is building out its school infrastructure in real time.

Pine Creek Elementary is a regular public school serving prekindergarten through fifth grade. Its enrollment is large for an elementary school, and the student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Asian, Black, and multiracial students. A small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, which is a low rate relative to many public schools. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source material.

On state assessments, Pine Creek Elementary posted strong results. In math, proficiency rates were solid across grades three through five, with the highest rate in third grade and a gradual decline by fifth grade, though still at a level many schools would consider healthy. In English language arts, fourth graders recorded a particularly high proficiency rate, while third and fifth graders also performed well. In science, the only tested grade, fifth graders posted a very high proficiency rate. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across all tested subjects and grades, sits above the midpoint when compared with other districts in Douglas County. This is a school where academic performance is a clear strength.

Because Pine Creek Elementary serves only through fifth grade, there is no graduation rate to report. The school does not serve high school grades, so that metric does not apply here. Chronic absenteeism data was also not available.

The housing market in the area reflects the community’s growth. Home values are above the national median, and rents are also above the national median. The estimated monthly mortgage payment is higher than the typical rent, which is a pattern common in markets where homeownership is more expensive than renting. The national unemployment rate was moderate at the time of the data, and median household income nationally was in the mid-eighties.

For a family looking at this school, the picture is straightforward. Pine Creek Elementary is a high-performing school in a growing suburban district. The student body is not economically diverse by the free-lunch measure, and the racial composition is predominantly white. The school’s academic results are a clear draw. The community context is one of expansion: new schools are being built, the population is rising, and the housing market reflects that demand. A parent considering this school should be comfortable with a suburban, car-dependent setting and with the likelihood that the district’s facilities and boundaries will continue to evolve as growth continues.

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Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 384%

School 84% · District 85% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 84 pts above state median · ▲ 84 pts above county median

Grade 475%

School 75% · District 81% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 75 pts above state median · ▲ 75 pts above county median

Grade 570%

School 70% · District 79% · ▼ 9 pts below district

▲ 70 pts above state median · ▲ 70 pts above county median

English language arts

Grade 370%

School 70% · District 77% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 70 pts above state median · ▲ 47 pts above county median

Grade 481%

School 81% · District 76% · ▲ 5 pts above district

▲ 42 pts above state median · ▲ 34 pts above county median

Grade 571%

School 71% · District 67% · ▲ 4 pts above district

▲ 71 pts above state median · ▲ 71 pts above county median

Science

Grade 586%

School 86% · District 94% · ▼ 8 pts below district

▲ 86 pts above state median · ▲ 86 pts above county median

This schoolBENNINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.