C L Jones Middle School, Minden NE

Original Research by School Decision on C L Jones Middle School

C L Jones Middle School is a regular public school serving fourth through eighth grade in Minden, Nebraska, part of the Minden Public Schools district. The school’s enrollment is moderately sized for a middle-level grade band, with a student population that is predominantly white, a smaller Hispanic share, and very small numbers of students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds. Roughly one-third of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, a measure of economic need that sits below the national average but is not negligible.

Academic performance on Nebraska’s state assessments shows a mixed picture that varies notably by grade and subject. In mathematics, while seventh graders posted a solid proficiency rate, fourth, sixth, and eighth graders all recorded a zero percent proficient rate on their respective grade-level tests. Fifth graders also showed a rate that was below half. These zero results are striking and are not explained by the available data; they may reflect very low performance or a testing anomaly. A parent considering this school would want to discuss these results directly with the school to understand what happened and what is being done. English language arts results are more uniform but still modest: across grades four through eight, proficiency rates cluster in the mid-forties to mid-fifties, with eighth graders performing the strongest. In science, the picture is brighter: fifth graders showed a solid proficiency rate, and eighth graders reached a strong rate, among the higher levels in the data.

When placed against the small set of other schools in Kearney County, C L Jones Middle School’s overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quarter of the comparison group. That contextual benchmark is based on only two schools with available data, so the comparison is narrow but still signals that academic attainment here is lower than at the one other local middle school with reported results.

The school does not serve high school grades, so there is no graduation rate to report, and no information was available on discipline, chronic absenteeism, or staffing. No program offerings such as advanced courses or career pathways were provided in the data.

Minden is a small county-seat city with a traditional downtown centered on a domed courthouse square. The local economy combines agriculture, manufacturing firms such as Burgess Well and Grayson Tool, and tourism drawn by the Pioneer Village museum complex. The town’s population grew modestly over the past decade, and it is part of the Kearney micropolitan area. Housing in the zip code is valued moderately below the Nebraska median but has seen strong appreciation in recent years. No major district-level changes such as bond issues or curriculum shifts were publicly reported in the most recent period.

This is a school in a small, stable community where the student body is relatively homogeneous and economic need is present but not dominant. Academic performance is uneven, with some grades and subjects showing real strengths and others raising serious questions. Families who value a small-town setting and are able to engage closely with the school on academic support may find it a good fit, while those seeking consistently strong testing outcomes across all grades may want to look into the school’s approach more deeply, especially for the grade levels where proficiency fell to zero.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 66% · ▼ 66 pts below district

even with state median

Grade 548%

School 48% · District 73% · ▼ 25 pts below district

▲ 48 pts above state median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 71% · ▼ 71 pts below district

even with state median

Grade 761%

School 61% · District 72% · ▼ 10 pts below district

▲ 61 pts above state median

Grade 80%

School 0% · district not reported

even with state median

English language arts

Grade 446%

School 46% · District 48% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 6 pts above state median

Grade 551%

School 51% · District 65% · ▼ 14 pts below district

▲ 51 pts above state median

Grade 646%

School 46% · District 74% · ▼ 28 pts below district

▲ 40 pts above state median

Grade 744%

School 44% · District 70% · ▼ 26 pts below district

▲ 44 pts above state median

Grade 856%

School 56% · District 63% · ▼ 7 pts below district

▲ 56 pts above state median

Science

Grade 561%

School 61% · district not reported

▲ 61 pts above state median

Grade 874%

School 74% · District 89% · ▼ 15 pts below district

▲ 74 pts above state median

This schoolMINDEN 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 7Lower-income46%Higher-income65%19 pp gap