Westgate Elementary School, Omaha NE

Original Research by School Decision on Westgate Elementary School

Westgate Elementary School serves students from prekindergarten through sixth grade as a regular public school in Omaha, Nebraska, operating under Westside Community Schools. The school sits in a residential area of Omaha, a city that anchors a large metropolitan economy with several Fortune headquarters and a mix of historic districts and suburban-style neighborhoods. The housing market near the school reflects home values above the national benchmark, and rents sit at a level that is a substantial share of typical incomes.

Enrollment is modest for a school serving this grade span, with a student body that is majority White. A little over a third of students identify as Black, Hispanic, or two or more races, with small shares of Asian and American Indian students. Data on students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals, who receive special education services, or who are English learners was not reported, leaving gaps in the picture of what supports the school provides. A parent may want to ask the school directly about these populations.

State testing results are available from the most recent school year, and they present a mixed picture. In English language arts, proficiency among tested students in grade four was roughly half, and in grade five it was lower. No students in grades three or six were reported as proficient in ELA. In math, no students in grades three, four, five, or six were reported as proficient. In science, no fifth-grade students were reported as proficient. The school’s overall proficiency index across all tested subjects and grades, a measure that averages the rates the state reported, placed Westgate in the bottom quarter when compared with other schools across Douglas County’s districts. A parent should understand that these results come from a single year of data, but they are a clear signal that the school is facing substantial challenges in academic attainment. It would be reasonable to look into what interventions, curriculum changes, or supports the school and district are using to address these scores.

The school does not have a reported charter or magnet status, and Title I status was not available from the data. Information on discipline, course access, staffing, and attendance was also missing. No recent district-level changes of the kind that typically affect families, such as boundary shifts, bond measures, or curriculum overhauls, were found in public reporting. A reader should note that this absence does not mean nothing is happening, only that no lasting-impact changes surfaced in the search.

Because Westgate is a PK through six school, there is no graduation rate to report; that metric applies only to high schools. The absence of chronic absenteeism data is a gap a parent may want to fill by asking the school, as it is a common indicator of student engagement and family support.

For a family considering this school, the housing market in the surrounding area is competitive relative to national norms, and Omaha’s economy provides a wide base of employers in finance, engineering, and logistics. The school itself is a neighborhood elementary serving a diverse student population, but the test results indicate that most students are not reaching proficiency in core subjects. A parent would want to investigate what academic support structures are in place, how the school is working to raise performance, and whether the school’s approach matches their child’s needs. The data alone does not answer those questions, but it shows where the conversation with the school should begin.

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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 30%

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

even with state median · ▼ 23 pts below county median

Grade 448%

School 48% · District 68% · ▼ 20 pts below district

▲ 9 pts above state median · ▲ 1 pts above county median

Grade 538%

School 38% · District 69% · ▼ 32 pts below district

▲ 38 pts above state median · ▲ 38 pts above county median

Grade 60%

School 0% · District 70% · ▼ 69 pts below district

▼ 6 pts below state median · ▼ 33 pts below county median

Science

Grade 50%

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

even with state median · even with 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 3Lower-income37%Higher-income80%43 pp gap

Grade 5Lower-income50%Higher-income67%17 pp gap

Mathematics

Grade 3Lower-income21%Higher-income70%49 pp gap