The top reported proficiency rate is 86% in Science. The lowest is 64% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Sheridan Elementary School
Sheridan Elementary School is a regular public school in Lincoln, Nebraska, serving students from prekindergarten through fifth grade as part of the Lincoln Public Schools district. It is one of many elementaries in a district that recently completed a major building program—the largest bond measure in district history—opening two new comprehensive high schools and a new elementary school, along with extensive renovations. That bond reshaped attendance boundaries and relieved overcrowding across the city. Sheridan itself, however, has not been the focus of recent headline changes; the more relevant district-wide shift for an elementary is the 2023 adoption of a science-of-reading approach to early literacy instruction, aligning with state law requiring evidence-based reading methods. That means the phonics and decoding emphasis now in place across all elementary buildings is also in effect at Sheridan.
The school draws its student body from a Lincoln neighborhood where housing values sit in a mid-range for the city consistent with the broader metro area. The school enrollment is relatively small for its grade band, and the student body is predominantly white. The share of students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals is modest compared to many elementary schools in the region. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available for this profile, so a parent with specific questions in those areas would want to check with the school directly.
State testing is administered in Nebraska for students in grades three through five, and Sheridan results cover all three of those grade levels in math and English language arts, with science tested in fifth grade only. Across these tested grades, student proficiency in both math and reading falls mostly in a middle band—neither notably low nor among the highest in the district. The fifth-grade science results stand out as distinctly stronger than the math and reading outcomes at the same grade level. When placed alongside the handful of other elementary or K-5 schools across Lancaster County for which comparable proficiency data is available, Sheridan sits in the bottom quartile of that set. That comparison is narrow: the full county contains more than a dozen public school systems, but only a handful are included in the proficiency index count, and Sheridan lands below the median of that subset.
The multi-year trend data supplied covers only one year, so no pattern of improvement or decline can be discerned from it. A parent evaluating academic trajectory would want to look at additional years of school-level reports or ask the school about internal assessments used in earlier grades, where state testing does not occur.
Lincoln itself is the state capital and the economic and cultural center of the metropolitan area. Major employers include the state government, Lincoln Public Schools itself, the University of Nebraska—Lincoln, healthcare systems, and manufacturing and logistics firms. The city has seen steady population growth in recent years. The neighborhood around Sheridan, located on the city’s near-south side, offers a mix of older single-family homes and rentals, with average rents and home values that fall somewhat below the metro’s top tier. Commute access to downtown or the university campus is straightforward.
For a family considering Sheridan, the main features to weigh are its moderate academic proficiency relative to other county elementary schools, its small and demographically homogeneous student body, and its location in a stable, mid-market Lincoln neighborhood. The district’s recent literacy curriculum change is a factor that may affect outcomes in the coming years. A parent who values a school where most students perform adequately on state tests but who also wants to understand why proficiency is not higher than it is—particularly in math and reading in the middle elementary grades—would do well to visit, ask about intervention strategies, and look at how the school serves students who are not yet at grade level. The available data does not include details on staffing ratios, class sizes, or disciplinary climate, so those would be important topics for a school tour or conversation with the principal.
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