Golden Hills Elementary School, Bellevue NE

Original Research by School Decision on Golden Hills Elementary School

Golden Hills Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through sixth grade in Bellevue, Nebraska, as part of the Papillion La Vista Community Schools district. It is a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, operating off Coffey Avenue on the east side of the city.

Bellevue itself is a suburban community in Sarpy County within the Omaha metropolitan area, shaped historically by Offutt Air Force Base and more recently by civilian growth along the Kennedy Freeway. The housing market in the zip code area around the school reflects home values that are above the national median, with rents also above the national average. The cost of buying versus renting tilts toward renting here given the current mortgage rate environment. A parent should be aware that this is a car-oriented, low-density suburb; transit options are limited to a weekday express bus to downtown Omaha.

The school is part of a district that is one of six in Sarpy County, and by the data available it sits in the bottom quartile among these districts on a composite measure of overall proficiency across tested subjects and grades. That is a soft spot worth noting: the school’s academic performance on state assessments is lower than most of its counterparts in the county.

Looking at the specific state test results, there are gaps in the data that a parent may want to ask about. In math, proficiency rates for grades three through six were reported as effectively zero percent, which is an unusual pattern that may reflect very small group sizes, testing irregularities, or a data reporting issue. A parent should follow up with the school to understand whether that figure accurately reflects student performance. In English language arts, fourth grade showed a proficiency rate close to the midpoint, while sixth grade was below that, and third and fifth grades were also reported at zero percent. In science, the sole tested grade, fifth, also showed zero percent proficiency. The overall combined proficiency index for the school, which averages across all tested subjects and grades, places it well below the district median for the county.

Enrollment at Golden Hills is a small, with a student body of roughly 200 to 250 across the grade span. The student population is predominantly white, with a substantial Hispanic share and smaller proportions of Black, Asian, American Indian, and multiracial students. Data on free and reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education identification, and English learner status were not available in the record, so a family considering the school may want to ask the office directly about the share of students receiving those supports.

The school serves prekindergarten through sixth grade, so it does not have a graduation rate. There are no high school programs such as Advanced Placement or career and technical offerings to consider at this level, as those belong to the middle and high schools that serve this attendance area.

The district has expanded its physical capacity, opening a new elementary school and a new middle school in recent years to keep pace with growth in the Papillion and La Vista areas. That expansion does not directly affect Golden Hills, which is in Bellevue, but it signals that the district is investing in facilities to accommodate enrollment pressures.

A parent weighing this school should note the academic performance picture is far below the county average across tested grades and subjects, and the zero-percent results in several grade-level subject combinations are an outlier that warrants a direct conversation with school leadership. The setting is a standard suburban elementary school in a city that is stable in population but has seen some recent decline, with a housing market that is expensive relative to national averages. For a family that values small enrollment and wants to understand why the test results look the way they do, Golden Hills would require that conversation.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 30%

School 0% · District 65% · ▼ 65 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 62% · ▼ 62 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 63% · ▼ 63 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 65% · ▼ 65 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 30%

School 0% · District 65% · ▼ 65 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 45 pts below county median

Grade 447%

School 47% · District 65% · ▼ 18 pts below district

▲ 7 pts above state median · ▼ 7 pts below county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 65% · ▼ 65 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 53 pts below county median

Grade 637%

School 37% · District 72% · ▼ 35 pts below district

▲ 30 pts above state median · ▼ 13 pts below county median

Science

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 87% · ▼ 86 pts below district

even with state median · ▼ 74 pts below county median

This schoolPAPILLION LA VISTA COMMUNITY 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-income32%Higher-income69%37 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income60%Higher-income56%4 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 4Lower-income26%Higher-income69%43 pp gap

Grade 6Lower-income65%Higher-income50%15 pp gap