Beattie Elementary School, Lincoln NE

Original Research by School Decision on Beattie Elementary School

Beattie Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade in Lincoln, Nebraska, as part of the Lincoln Public Schools district. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet school. The school is located in the 68502 zip code, a residential area of the city.

The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller but notable share of students who identify as two or more races. Hispanic students make up a modest portion of the enrollment, and the school serves a small number of Black, Asian, and American Indian or Alaska Native students. More than a third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a substantial share of families are managing on lower household incomes. The school serves roughly the same number of students in each grade from kindergarten through fifth grade, with a pre-kindergarten program that had no reported enrollment in the data provided.

On state assessments, Beattie Elementary shows a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency rates for third and fourth graders are solid, with a majority of students meeting the bar. Fifth-grade ELA proficiency is lower, with about half of students reaching the standard. In math, third and fourth graders again show a majority proficient, but fifth-grade math proficiency was reported at a very low level, a sharp drop that a parent may want to look into further with the school. Science, tested only in fifth grade, shows a strong majority of students proficient. The school’s overall proficiency index, which averages results across tested subjects and grades, places it in the bottom quartile relative to other districts in Lancaster County. This is a soft spot in the school’s academic profile, and the drop in fifth-grade math is the most striking single data point.

The school is part of Lincoln Public Schools, a large district that has recently undergone significant change. In 2020, voters passed the largest bond issue in district history, funding two new high schools, a new elementary school, and major renovations. Those new high schools opened in 2022 and 2023, and the district also redrew attendance boundaries to relieve overcrowding. For a family at Beattie, this means the feeder pattern and eventual high school assignment may have shifted in recent years. The district also began implementing a science-of-reading approach to early literacy across all elementary schools starting in 2023, a shift in how reading is taught that is now in place at Beattie.

Lincoln itself is the state capital and the economic and cultural center of the region. Major employers include state government, the university, the school district itself, and healthcare and manufacturing firms. The city is growing steadily, with a rising population and development projects that include affordable housing initiatives. The housing market in the school’s zip code shows home values and rents that are moderate relative to national benchmarks, and the area is more affordable than many parts of the country. The school sits in a residential part of the city, with the downtown and the historic Haymarket District a short distance away.

For a family considering Beattie, the school offers a regular elementary program in a stable, growing city. The academic results are uneven, with strong science performance and decent early-grade reading and math, but a notable weakness in fifth-grade math that warrants attention. The student body is predominantly white and economically mixed, with a significant share of students from lower-income households. The district is investing heavily in facilities and has shifted its early literacy instruction, both of which are likely to affect the experience of current and incoming students.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 357%

School 57% · District 56% · ▲ 1 pts above district

▲ 57 pts above state median · ▲ 14 pts above county median

Grade 461%

School 61% · District 55% · ▲ 7 pts above district

▲ 61 pts above state median · ▲ 61 pts above county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 52% · ▼ 51 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 46 pts below county median

English language arts

Grade 363%

School 63% · District 55% · ▲ 9 pts above district

▲ 63 pts above state median · ▲ 7 pts above county median

Grade 467%

School 67% · District 57% · ▲ 10 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median · ▲ 8 pts above county median

Grade 550%

School 50% · District 52% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 50 pts above state median · even with county median

Science

Grade 579%

School 79% · District 77% · ▲ 2 pts above district

▲ 79 pts above state median · ▲ 11 pts above county median

This schoolLINCOLN 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.

Proficiency by household income

English language arts

Grade 4Lower-income64%Higher-income87%23 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income63%Higher-income81%18 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income52%Higher-income77%25 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income70%Higher-income76%6 pp gap