The top reported proficiency rate is 68% in Science. The lowest is 45% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Roper Elementary School
Roper Elementary School serves students in prekindergarten through fifth grade as part of Lincoln Public Schools, the large district that anchors the state capital. Located on the south side of Lincoln near the intersection of Coddington and South streets, the school draws from a section of the city where homes and apartments are a mix of older modest houses and newer subdivisions. Lincoln itself is a steady-growth city driven by state government, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, healthcare, and manufacturing, with a downtown district anchored by the state capitol and a small but active tech scene the city calls the Midwest Silicon Prairie. Housing values in the area are in line with the state average, and rents have been rising modestly, consistent with the steady population growth the city has seen in recent years.
The school is a regular public school and is not a charter or magnet. It is also the most important of its kind to know that Roper does not have a Title I status indicator recorded in the data we reviewed, though a substantial share of its students, well over half, qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The student body is diverse. The largest group is white, making up roughly half the enrollment, with a notable Hispanic population approaching one-fifth of students, smaller but still significant Asian and Black populations, and a remaining share of students who identify as two or more races or as American Indian. Roper is one of the larger elementary schools in the district by total enrollment. It feeds into middle schools and then high schools determined by Lincoln Public Schools attendance boundaries, which have been reshaped by the recent construction of two new high schools, Lincoln Northwest and Lincoln Standing Bear, built with a major bond issue passed in 2020.
Academically, Roper’s overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Lancaster County. On state assessments, the proficiency rates vary by grade and subject. In math, the share of students meeting state standards rises from grade three through grade five. In English language arts, proficiency is near the midpoint of the range in fourth and fifth grades, while the third-grade result is notably lower. On the fifth-grade science assessment, a solid majority of students met the state bar, a result that stands out as the strongest single subject-grade showing at the school. Because Roper serves only elementary grades, there is no graduation rate to report.
A parent considering Roper will want to look into what academic support structures the school provides, particularly in third-grade literacy, where the proficiency rate is low. The district has recently moved toward a science-of-reading approach to early literacy, a districtwide shift that began in 2023 and could have implications for how reading instruction evolves at the school. Roper’s size means it offers a full range of grade-level classrooms and the typical elementary programs, but the data we reviewed did not include information on course access, staffing ratios, or specific enrichment offerings, so those are details to explore directly with the school.
The student body includes many families in economic need, and the diversity of the enrollment gives the school a mix of backgrounds that reflects the broader Lincoln area. Lincoln Public Schools is a large, well-established district, and Roper sits within a neighborhood that has seen steady housing demand. For a family looking at elementary options in south Lincoln, the key questions will center on the school’s academic trajectory, especially in early literacy, and what support services are in place for students who arrive below grade level. The school’s own website would be the best next step for specifics on programming and school culture.
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