The top reported proficiency rate is 74% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Oakdale Elementary School
Oakdale Elementary School serves students from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school in the Westside Community Schools district, located in the southwestern part of Omaha. It is a neighborhood school with a modest enrollment that is small enough that families may know one another, and the grade span means students stay from early childhood through the end of elementary. The building sits in a residential area of Omaha, a city that is both Nebraska’s largest population center and home to major corporate headquarters spanning finance, engineering, and logistics. The local housing market reflects that economic strength: home values in the area are above the national typical, and rents follow a similar pattern, which suggests the surrounding neighborhood is relatively established and costlier than many parts of the country.
The student body is predominantly white, with smaller shares of Hispanic, Asian, Black, and multiracial students. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a share that is modest by national standards and points to a generally higher-income peer environment, though not uniformly so. Data on special education and English learner enrollment was not available, so families who need that information should ask the school directly.
Academically, Oakdale presents a mixed picture that a parent would want to examine grade by grade. State testing results for the most recent school year show a pattern where reading and English language arts proficiency is solid in the middle elementary grades but drops noticeably by sixth grade. Math proficiency varies even more sharply: the fourth and fifth grades reported a rate of zero percent proficient, a result that is unusual and worth a direct conversation with the school to understand the context — whether it reflects a very small test-taker group, a curriculum shift, or something else. Sixth-grade math, by contrast, showed a majority of students meeting proficiency. Science testing in fifth grade also recorded a zero percent proficiency rate, another area that a parent should look into further with the school.
When compared with other elementary schools across Douglas County, Oakdale’s overall proficiency index sits in the bottom quarter of the county’s districts. That is a sobering placement, but it comes with important caveats: the comparison is at the district level, not school to school, and Oakdale’s own results are not uniformly low — the third- and fourth-grade reading scores, for example, are much stronger than the fourth-grade math score. The school’s strengths appear concentrated in early elementary reading, while weaknesses cluster in upper-elementary math and science. A parent considering Oakdale would want to ask about the instructional supports for math in grades four through six and about any curriculum or staffing changes that may explain the very low tested proficiency in some grades.
The district, Westside Community Schools, did not have any recent major policy changes, facility referendums, or curriculum shifts publicly reported in the past few years. That means the school’s academic profile is likely driven by its own practices and staffing rather than a district upheaval.
For families who value a relatively small, stable elementary school in a higher-cost Omaha neighborhood with a predominantly white and moderately affluent population, Oakdale fits that description. The academic record, however, demands attention. The zero-percent proficiency results in several grade-subject combinations are unusual and could reflect anything from very small class sizes to a testing anomaly to genuine instructional gaps. A parent should plan to visit, talk to the principal, and ask about how the school supports students who are not yet meeting benchmarks in math and science. If those conversations yield clear plans and evidence of progress, Oakdale could still be a good fit; if the responses are vague, the low proficiency figures suggest real caution.
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