The top reported proficiency rate is 41% in English language arts. The lowest is 0% in Science.
Original Research by School Decision on Yutan Elementary School
Yutan Elementary School serves the small, growing commuter town of Yutan in Saunders County, Nebraska, about a half-hour drive from both Omaha and Lincoln. The school runs from prekindergarten through sixth grade, and as a regular public school that does not serve high school grades, there is no graduation rate to report. The setting is rural-residential, with most adults commuting out of town for work, and the community is compact enough that the school sits on the same main street as the high school, the district office, and the public library.
The student body is overwhelmingly white, with very small shares of Hispanic and Asian students and no Black students reported. About one in six students qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, a rate that is low compared to many Nebraska public schools, reflecting a community with a high homeownership rate and a median household income that is comfortable for the region. The school serves more than 250 students, a size that is modest for an elementary building and keeps grade-level groups manageable.
State testing data from the most recent school year shows a mixed picture. In English language arts, results vary by grade: fourth and sixth graders posted proficiency rates that indicate most students met the standard, while fifth graders came in lower, with fewer than half reaching proficiency. Third graders were tested but recorded no students proficient, an outcome that a parent may want to discuss directly with the school to understand the context, as the grade band covers a wide range of developmental stages and the small cohort size can make single-year results volatile. In math, every tested grade from third through sixth recorded a zero percent proficiency rate, meaning no student in any of those grades scored at the proficient level on the state assessment. The same zero percent result appeared for fifth-grade science. When compared against other districts in Saunders County, the school’s overall proficiency index lands in the bottom quartile of the five districts in the county, a position that stands out given the low-poverty profile of the student population. The trend data shows that in the same school year, the combined all-grades average fell well below the school’s own composite from an earlier point, though the change label is not flagged as a clean comparison, so the decline is worth noting but should not be read as a precise trajectory.
The district, Yutan Public Schools, did not have any parent-relevant changes reported in publicly available records, such as recent bond referendums, boundary adjustments, or curriculum overhauls. That means a family moving here will find the academic program as it currently stands, without a known recent disruption or reform to factor in.
For a family considering this school, the main takeaway is that Yutan Elementary operates in a safe, small-town setting with a high-ownership housing market and steady population growth. The peer environment is homogeneous, and economic need is low. The academic numbers, however, particularly in math and science, are far below what the state expects, and the overall proficiency profile is the weakest among the county’s districts. A parent with a child entering the middle elementary grades may want to investigate what interventions or supports are in place, how the school addresses grade-level gaps, and whether the district has plans to improve instruction before enrolling.
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