The top reported proficiency rate is 71% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Park Elementary School
Park Elementary is a regular public school in Kearney, Nebraska, serving grades PK through 5 and part of Kearney Public Schools. It is a neighborhood school in a city that doubles as a regional commercial and transportation hub and the home of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, giving the community a distinct college-town character alongside its broader role as a county seat and Interstate 80 crossroads.
The school’s academic results present a picture with notable differences between subjects. On state assessments, proficiency rates in English language arts varied by grade level. One grade reported a modest share of students meeting the bar, while another showed a much stronger share. The third tested grade posted a high rate. When looked at as an overall proficiency index across tested subjects and grades, the school’s composite performance fell in the bottom quartile relative to other schools in districts across Buffalo County. The source for that comparison is noted as county membership rather than adjacency, so the set is a broad one. This means a parent shopping for a school with consistently strong test scores would want to see the details behind that position.
The math results across tested grades were reported at a very low proficiency rate, and the same was true for fifth-grade science. A parent may want to follow up with the school to understand the instructional approach in these subjects and what supports are in place. The available trend data shows only a single year’s snapshot for most subjects, so there is no multi-year trajectory to assess improvement or decline.
Because the school serves only through fifth grade, it has no high school graduation rate, and the chronic absenteeism metric was not available for comparison. The enrollment is moderate for an elementary school serving this grade band, with a modest share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of students identifying as Hispanic, black, Asian, and two or more races. Data on students with individualized education programs and English learners was not reported.
Kearney itself is a city that blends residential neighborhoods with a visible college presence, major employers like Good Samaritan Hospital, The Buckle, and several manufacturing firms, and a downtown with breweries and performance venues. The housing market is active. The weighted home value in the area has risen notably year over year, and rents have also climbed. The typical cost of a home sits above the state benchmark but below the national figure. For a family renting, the estimated rent-to-income ratio falls within a manageable range, while the gap between the cost of renting and owning is modest. The broad economic context includes a national unemployment rate and a 30-year mortgage rate that have both been steady in recent months.
The growth and development context in Kearney has been one of steady population increase, driven originally by the Interstate 80 corridor and sustained by its role as a regional center for healthcare, education, and retail. No major new residential projects were detailed in publicly available sources, but the city’s trajectory is one of moderate expansion rather than boom.
For a family considering this school, the central tension is between a favorable community context—a stable, mid-sized city with a university anchor, diverse employment base, and accessible housing by national standards—and academic performance that varies sharply by subject and sits low in the county comparison. The school offers a traditional elementary setting in a city with cultural and civic assets, but a parent looking for strong math and science test results would want to ask about curriculum and support structures directly. The absence of multi-year data makes it difficult to gauge whether the current snapshot is a low point or a steady state.
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