Prairie Lane Elementary School, Omaha NE

Original Research by School Decision on Prairie Lane Elementary School

Prairie Lane Elementary School is a regular public school serving preschool through sixth grade, located in southwest Omaha and part of Westside Community Schools. The school enrolls a small student body for its grade band, drawn from a surrounding neighborhood that is largely residential and suburban in character. The student population is predominantly white, with a smaller but meaningful share of Hispanic students, and very few Asian, Black, or multiracial students. About one in five students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate well below the state average, indicating a relatively higher-income community overall.

Academically, the picture varies by subject. On Nebraska’s state assessments for the most recent year, a majority of Prairie Lane students met or exceeded the state standard in English language arts across grades three through six, and science proficiency in grade five was particularly strong. These are clear strengths. However, math proficiency was reported at a very low level in every tested grade, a pattern that stands out sharply against the school’s performance in other subjects. Parents looking at this school will want to ask the administration directly about what math instruction looks like and whether the reported results reflect a temporary anomaly or a more persistent challenge. The school’s overall proficiency index, when all subjects and grades are averaged together, places it in the bottom quarter among districts in Douglas County, and that ranking is almost entirely driven by the math scores.

State testing data for math, ELA, and science are available, but the school had no reported figures for chronic absenteeism or for the share of students with Individualized Education Programs or English Learner status, so those areas are not possible to characterize here. Because Prairie Lane is an elementary school, there is no graduation rate to consider, and course access or discipline data were not available in the records.

The community context matters. Prairie Lane sits inside Omaha, a large city with a deep corporate base, a walkable downtown historic district, and major civic anchors like the Henry Doorly Zoo and the College World Series venue. The neighborhood around the school is suburban in feel, car-dependent, and home values are somewhat above the Nebraska median. The Westside district has a reputation as a high-performing suburban system, though publicly reported information did not turn up recent major curriculum or policy changes to note. For a family evaluating this school, the key question will be whether the math results are an isolated problem or something deeper. The strong ELA and science scores suggest a building where many students are learning well, but the math gap is too large to ignore without further conversation with school leadership.

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Academic performance

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

Math

Grade 30%

School 0% · District 67% · ▼ 66 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 40%

School 0% · District 67% · ▼ 67 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 50%

School 0% · District 64% · ▼ 64 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 69% · ▼ 69 pts below district

even with state median · even with county median

English language arts

Grade 354%

School 54% · District 65% · ▼ 11 pts below district

▲ 54 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Grade 468%

School 68% · District 68%

▲ 28 pts above state median · ▲ 20 pts above county median

Grade 565%

School 65% · District 69% · ▼ 4 pts below district

▲ 65 pts above state median · ▲ 65 pts above county median

Grade 664%

School 64% · District 70% · ▼ 6 pts below district

▲ 57 pts above state median · ▲ 31 pts above county median

Science

Grade 586%

School 86% · District 87% · ▼ 1 pts below district

▲ 86 pts above state median · ▲ 86 pts above county median

This schoolWESTSIDE 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 6Lower-income73%Higher-income100%27 pp gap