The top reported proficiency rate is 87% in Science. The lowest is 69% in English language arts.
Original Research by School Decision on Moore Middle School
Moore Middle School, serving grades six through eight, is a regular public school in Lincoln Public Schools. The school is located in the southeast quadrant of the city. Its student body is predominantly white, with small shares of Asian, Hispanic, two-or-more-races, and Black students. About one in every ten students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a notably low rate within the district. The overall enrollment is on the larger side for a middle school of this grade band.
On state assessments in math, the school posted strong proficiency rates across all three tested grades. The sixth-grade group did particularly well, while the seventh and eighth grades also showed solid results. In English language arts, the performance was strong, with the sixth grade again having the highest proficiency rate and the seventh grade the lowest. Science results, which are tested only in eighth grade, were very strong. Taken together, the school’s combined proficiency across all tested subjects and grades falls above the midpoint relative to other school districts in Lancaster County, a comparison set that includes Lincoln Public Schools itself as well as several surrounding districts.
This is a school where a large majority of students are meeting state benchmarks. A parent looking at the overall pattern will see consistent proficiency across subjects and grades, with no single area standing out as a weakness. The available data covers a single year, so trends over time are not captured here.
The school sits within Lincoln Public Schools, the major public school district in Nebraska’s capital city. Lincoln is a state government and university town, anchored by the Nebraska State Capitol and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Major employers include the state government, the school district itself, the university, healthcare systems, and a mix of manufacturing and logistics firms like Kawasaki. The city has been growing steadily, with development in both the housing market and a local startup scene. The neighborhood around the school near Yankee Woods Drive is a suburban-style residential area within the city limits.
The district has been in a period of significant facility expansion. A large bond measure passed several years ago funded the construction of two new comprehensive high schools, a new elementary school, and major renovations at existing buildings. That construction reshaped attendance boundaries and relieved overcrowding, which has direct implications for where students attend school. Families moving into southeast Lincoln can expect that Moore Middle School feeds into a high school determined by the district’s current boundaries.
The district also shifted to a science-of-reading approach for early literacy instruction in elementary schools, a change that will affect students before they reach Moore. How that shift plays out in middle school reading scores will be visible in future years. We looked for information on course access, staffing ratios, and chronic absenteeism, but found little in the provided data, so those factors are not addressed here.
For a family considering Moore Middle School, the picture is of a relatively affluent, high-performing school in a city with a stable economy and a district that has invested heavily in new buildings. The academic results are consistently strong, and the student body is not particularly diverse. The school’s size is a characteristic some families may find appealing and others may not. A parent who values a middle school where the large majority of students are meeting state standards in core subjects will find that pattern here.
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