The top reported proficiency rate is 15% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Burwell Elementary School
Burwell Elementary School serves the children of Burwell, a small agricultural community in the Nebraska Sandhills, through sixth grade. The town is the county seat of Garfield County, and its economy revolves around ranching, farming, and the Burwell Livestock Market, one of the larger cattle auctions in the Sandhills. Families in the area work in farm and ranch jobs, veterinary services, trucking, and the town’s local businesses, which include a grocery store, hardware store, pharmacy, medical clinics, and banks. The town is also home to Nebraska's Big Rodeo, an annual event that brings a seasonal economic lift. Burwell’s population has been declining over recent decades, though the most recent estimate suggests a slight stabilization. The school building is integrated into the compact town, where Grand Avenue functions as the main commercial street and civic life is concentrated within a small footprint.
The school itself is a regular public school and is part of the Burwell Public Schools district, which encompasses the only K-12 system in the community. Enrollment is small for a combined pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade setting. The student body is almost entirely white, which is consistent with the demographic profile of the surrounding rural area. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a reflection of the broader economic context. Because the school serves only early and middle grades, there is no graduation rate to report; that metric applies to the district’s high school.
State assessment results for the 2024-25 school year present a mixed picture. In English language arts, the third grade group performed at a level that would be considered within a typical range for the state. However, results for fourth, fifth, and sixth grade in reading were not in evidence; the data shows no students in those tested grades as meeting the proficiency standard. In mathematics, every tested grade from third through sixth also shows no students reaching proficiency. The same pattern holds for fifth grade science. The multi-year trend data indicates that when all tested grades in reading and math are combined into a single all-grades metric, the figures are low. A parent looking at the state assessments should note that the available data for most grade levels and subjects shows very low proficiency. Because the results are so consistently at the bottom across multiple grades and subjects, it is worth discussing with the school what academic supports and interventions are in place and how instruction is being evaluated.
The school does not report data on special education or English learner populations, so it is not possible to assess how the school serves students with those needs. No information on chronic absenteeism, discipline rates, or staffing ratios was available in the dataset. The search for recent district changes that would be relevant to parents also came up empty; the district appears to have been operating without any major publicly noted shifts or capital investments in the recent period.
For a family considering Burwell Elementary, the peer environment is homogeneous, the class sizes are small, and the setting is deeply rural and agricultural. The academic outcomes, based on the state’s own assessments, are a clear concern across all tested areas. A parent who places a high priority on strong test results will want to ask pointed questions about curriculum, teacher training, and intervention strategies. For a family that values a small town, multigrade familiarity, and a close-knit school community, the environment may be a natural fit, but the academic results warrant a thorough conversation with the principal and teaching staff about how the school measures progress and addresses gaps.
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