The top reported proficiency rate is 80% in Math. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Pender Elementary School
Pender Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through sixth grade in the small, rural village of Pender, the county seat of Thurston County. The school sits on a campus separate from the village’s Main Street commercial core, at an address on Whitney Street, and is part of the Pender Public Schools district.
The village of Pender has a compact residential layout and a Main Street that includes a historic Opera House, a former movie theater converted into a variety store, and small businesses such as liquor merchants. Civic anchors include a community park and swimming pool, a golf course, a bowling alley, a community center, and a sports complex. The village’s population is gradually declining, and no major new housing developments were identified in publicly reported sources. Housing values in the area around the school are below the state benchmark, and the estimated monthly mortgage payment on a typical home is moderate relative to national figures. The unemployment rate nationally is moderate, and real median household income nationally has been stable in recent years. County government and the school district itself are among the larger local employers; no major private employers were named in publicly available information.
Pender Elementary is a regular public school and does not hold charter or magnet status. Enrollment is small for a school serving these grade levels, with students distributed fairly evenly across grades from kindergarten through sixth grade, plus a prekindergarten program. The student body is predominantly white, with a smaller share of Hispanic students and very small numbers of students identifying as American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black, or two or more races. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the source materials; a family with specific questions about those programs would need to ask the school directly.
Academically, Pender Elementary posted strong results on Nebraska’s state assessments. In math, proficiency rates across grades three through six were well above what is typical statewide, with the majority of students meeting standards in every grade. In English language arts, proficiency rates were also strong in grades three and four, but dropped noticeably in grades five and six, where a smaller share of students scored at the proficient level. This dip in the upper elementary grades is a pattern a parent may want to discuss with the school. In fifth-grade science, no students reached the proficient level, a result that stands out sharply given the school’s generally solid performance in other subjects. The science assessment is administered only in grade five, so this is a single data point. Compared to other districts in Thurston County, Pender Elementary’s overall proficiency index sits above the midpoint of the cohort. Because the school does not serve grades beyond sixth, there is no graduation rate to report.
The school and its high school counterpart were recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School for 2023 by the U.S. Department of Education, a public acknowledgment that carries weight with families evaluating the district. This recognition was reported on the federal Blue Ribbon Schools website and in third-party school review outlets, which also noted that the district’s math and reading proficiency rates are well above state averages.
No information on course offerings, staffing ratios, discipline rates, or chronic absenteeism was available in the source data. A parent looking into those areas would need to contact the school or district office directly. The overall picture is of a small, rural elementary school with strong math achievement, solid early literacy results, a noticeable decline in upper-grade reading proficiency, and a single concerning science result that warrants a closer look. The Blue Ribbon recognition signals that the school has demonstrated academic excellence in the recent past. The community is quiet and small, with limited commercial activity and a declining population, which may appeal to families seeking a low-key setting with a well-regarded local school.
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