The top reported proficiency rate is 40% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Elementary School at Ceresco
Elementary School at Ceresco serves students from preschool through fifth grade in the small farming village of Ceresco, Nebraska, a community that has seen notable recent growth and sits along U.S. Highway 77 roughly midway between Lincoln and Omaha. The village itself has no medical facilities or manufacturing, and most employed residents commute to larger cities for work. Ceresco includes a public library, a park, and three Protestant churches, and its elementary school feeds into the Raymond Central Public Schools district, meaning students travel outside the village for middle and high school. The district search turned up no recent parent-relevant changes, so the picture for incoming families is essentially stable.
The school is small, with enrollment in the low hundreds, and the student body is overwhelmingly white. A relatively small share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not reported for this school, so a parent may want to ask the school directly about how it supports those populations.
State assessment results paint a sharply uneven picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates varied widely by grade, with a majority of fourth graders meeting the bar but fewer than half of third graders doing so, and fifth graders showing no proficiency at all. In mathematics, no students at any tested grade level reached the proficient threshold. In science, the only tested grade, fifth grade, also recorded no proficient scores. When compared with other districts in Saunders County, the school’s overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile. A multi-year trend shows that ELA proficiency has hovered around half of students, while math proficiency has dropped from a higher level to a lower one over the available data window, and science has consistently shown no proficiency. These are significant soft spots, and a parent considering this school would want to understand what supports are in place and whether recent patterns are being addressed.
The school is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and serves only elementary grades, so there is no graduation rate or secondary program data to consider. The community context is one of quiet residential growth. Ceresco’s population increased noticeably between the 2010 and 2020 censuses and has continued to rise by some estimates. Housing values in the area are moderately above the state median, and the village has a small downtown and a low-density layout with limited walkability. For families who work in Lincoln or Omaha, the commute is feasible, and the village offers a very small-town, agricultural setting.
Given the academic results, this school may be a better fit for families who are comfortable being highly engaged with their child’s learning and who will look to supplement instruction at home, particularly in math and science. The school’s size means class groups are small, which can be an advantage for individualized attention, but the assessment data suggests that advantage has not yet translated into strong outcomes across all tested subjects. A parent should plan to visit, ask about curriculum and intervention strategies, and talk with current families to get a fuller sense of the day-to-day experience.
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