For the first time since being evaluated by the Department of Education’s AQuESTT (Accountability for a Quality Education System) school classification system, our school has scored Excellent (The highest designation) as a District, High School, and Middle School for 2025 (based upon data from 2024-25). This also marks the first time our High School has achieved the mark of Excellent. In addition, this is the 4th year out of 5 that our elementary school has scored just below Excellent at the Great level. They did score Excellent in 2022.
The AQuESTT system uses data relating to: graduation rates, attendance rates, student scores on achievement tests including state standard assessments, and data relating to positive relationships and student discipline. Based upon the data an entire district and each of its schools may be designated as Excellent, Great, Good, and Needs Support to Improve.
Some highlights of the 2025 classification show that 72% of our students were proficient in Math and English Language Arts, surpassing state averages of 58% and 59%, and up from 60% in 2024. In Science 95% of our students were proficient, surpassing the state average of 80%, and up from 73% in 2024. Other data showed exceptional evidence of positive relationships and significantly low incidences of negative student behaviors.
As for areas to improve in, our scores were adversely affected by student attendance deemed as “chronic absenteeism”. AQuESTT considers a student as chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of scheduled school days. Consequently, those students who missed school 17 days or more, due to anything other than a school activity, were counted as chronically absent. Of course, we continually strive to improve student achievement on state assessments, through our daily academic exercises, although 72% plus is a fantastic start. Our current school improvement goals have us working to achieve an 80% proficiency rate on state assessments. And it goes without saying that we are always working to improve student achievement across all “proofs” of student learning, be they state assessments or a student’s weekly spelling list.
Although the AQuESTT classification only tells part of the story associated with the growth and formation of our students, it does indicate that our families, teachers, and the other support staff at the school, with the support of the community, are doing a great deal of good. Congratulations and thank you everyone for all your efforts and sacrifices, and for giving us something to be very proud of! For more information regarding our AQuESTT classification and other data from the entire state, you may visit https://nep.education.ne.gov/#/.