The top reported proficiency rate is 63% in Science. The lowest is 26% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Randolph Elementary School
Randolph Elementary School is a regular public school in Lincoln, Nebraska, serving students in prekindergarten through fifth grade. It is part of the Lincoln Public Schools district. The school’s enrollment is typical for an elementary school serving its grade band, and the student body is predominantly White, with a substantial Hispanic population and a noticeable share of students who identify as two or more races. A substantial share of students at Randolph qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a significant portion of families in the attendance area have lower household incomes.
The neighborhood around the school is an established, largely residential part of Lincoln. The housing market in this ZIP code has home values that land below the state average for Nebraska, which is itself below the national average. This makes Randolph’s attendance area a moderately priced pocket within the city. Rent is similarly a bit below the national norm, though monthly mortgage payments still exceed typical rent in the area by a meaningful margin. The city of Lincoln itself is a growing state capital and regional economic anchor, with major employers including the state government, the university, the school district, and healthcare and manufacturing sectors.
Academically, Randolph Elementary presents a mixed picture that a parent will want to examine closely. The school has state testing data for the 2024-25 school year across grades three through five in English language arts and mathematics, and for grade five in science. In English language arts, grade three proficiency was notably higher than the performance in grades four and five. In mathematics, the pattern was similar, with grade three showing a stronger result than later grades. Science results for fifth graders were the strongest subject area in that grade.
However, the overall picture becomes clearer when looking at the school’s multi-year trend and its position relative to other schools. The proficiency index, which averages performance across all tested subjects and grades, places Randolph Elementary in the bottom quartile among elementary schools in Lancaster County districts. This is a significant data point: relative to its county peers, overall academic proficiency is on the lower end. Trend data available only for the most recent year does not allow for a multi-year change calculation, but the single-year snapshot shows that proficiency rates in all three subjects were below the county median. A parent looking at this school should consider that while some strong performance exists in early grades and in science, the overall academic attainment is weaker than what is typical for the district and county in which Lincoln Public Schools operates.
Data on special education identification and English learner status was not available in the provided data, so a parent should ask the school directly about how it serves students with individual education plans and multilingual learners. Discipline data and staffing data were also absent from the profile. No information was available on course access or program offerings, which is typical for an elementary school where the focus is on a general curriculum rather than elective pathways.
The school is situated within Lincoln Public Schools, a district that has recently undergone major changes. A large bond issue passed in 2020 funded the construction of two new high schools and did significant renovations across the district, including a new elementary school. This reshaped attendance boundaries across Lincoln to relieve overcrowding, and a family considering Randolph should be aware that the district’s growth has prompted these boundary adjustments. Additionally, the district has begun implementing a science-of-reading approach to early literacy instruction across all elementary schools, a district-wide pedagogy shift that is directly relevant to anyone with a child in grades prekindergarten through five.
For a family weighing this school, the key takeaway is that Randolph is a high-needs, urban elementary school within a large and growing district that has invested heavily in new facilities and instructional change. The academic evidence shows lower proficiency levels than most of its county peers, with one grade level and one subject area outperforming others. There is no graduation rate, course access data, or state test data for grades outside the tested range, as those do not apply to an elementary school. A parent visiting the school will want to ask how the school addresses the literacy shift underway district-wide and how it supports students in mathematics and reading through the later elementary grades.
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