NCES CCD 2024-25 23 schools NE

Best-Resourced Schools in Grand Island, NE

Compiled from official source data by .

23 public K-12 schools in Grand Island from NCES Common Core of Data: enrollment, grade span, demographics, and Civil Rights Data Collection statistics for every active campus.

PlainSchools home → About this data
23
Schools
11,267
Students
45.3/100
Avg Resource Index
15.5:1
Avg Student-Teacher Ratio

National city placement

Middle-of-corpus city profile

According to NCES CCD 2024-25, Grand Island has more public-school enrollment than 83% of the 4,487 US cities in this directory. Grand Island sits in the broad middle of the national city distribution rather than at a single obvious extreme. Its scale, average Resource Investment Index, and staffing position need to be read together: a middle placement on one measure does not cancel a stronger or weaker result on another. The percentile panel makes those dimensions explicit, and the school table shows where the city aggregate breaks into materially different campus profiles.

Combined-grade campuses shape the local portfolio

18 of Grand Island's 23 listed schools use NCES's combined or “other” grade-level classification. Citywide averages therefore blend campuses serving unusually broad or nonstandard grade spans with conventional elementary, middle, and high schools. Grade configuration is a first-order comparison here, not a minor label.

Campus spread matters more than the city mean

The 36-point gap between Gates Elementary School and Early Learning Center shows the range hidden by Grand Island's average Resource Investment Index. The city figure is useful for national placement, but families ultimately choose among campuses with different grade spans, enrollment, district affiliations, and reported support fields. Start with schools serving the relevant grade level, then compare the index components rather than assuming the city average describes any one classroom.

City enrollment
Top 17%
School count
Top 12%
Resource Index average
71st percentile
Teacher staffing
48th percentile

Grand Island Senior High School accounts for 23.9% of all Grand Island public-school enrollment

That concentration means Grand Island-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the largest entity. Grade level: High. The share measures enrollment concentration only; it does not establish how districts allocate programs, capital, or staff. Enrollment-weighted aggregates give this entity more weight than any smaller peer, while an unweighted entity average treats every record equally.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Grand Island school enrollment varies 84× across entities

Grand Island school enrollment ranges from 32 students (lowest) to 2,696 students (highest), a spread of 2,664 students. That ratio is an extreme outlier spread — among the widest gaps observed anywhere in this dataset. Per-school staffing and program breadth can differ sharply at opposite ends of that enrollment range, so the city average should not be treated as a typical campus.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data

Grand Island student-teacher ratio is 15.5:1 — near the typical range (US average ~15.7) — citywide staffing is neither unusually lean nor unusually crowded by this measure

student-teacher ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: the ratio counts FTE classroom teachers against total enrollment, push-in specialists, English-language aides, special-education co-teachers, and counselors are not included in most reporting Variation between sub-units within Grand Island is typically wider than the Grand Island-aggregate figure suggests.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, Public School Universe

# School Score
1. Gates Elementary School 61
2. Westridge Middle School 58
3. Seedling Mile Elem School 56
4. Shoemaker Elementary School 55
5. Cedar Hollow School 54
6. Northwest High School 51
7. 1r Elementary 51
8. Walnut Middle School 48
9. Engleman Elementary School 48
10. Grand Island Senior High School 47
11. Newell Elementary School 46
12. Lincoln Elementary School 44
13. Stolley Park Elem School 44
14. Howard Elementary School 43
15. Jefferson Elementary School 43
16. Wasmer Elementary School 41
17. Dodge Elementary School 40
18. West Lawn Elementary School 39
19. Barr Middle School 38
20. Starr Elementary School 38
21. Knickrehm Elementary School 38
22. Lockwood Elementary School 33
23. Early Learning Center 25

Most racially and ethnically mixed schools in Grand Island

Ranked by the Simpson student-body diversity index (0-100) from NCES race and ethnicity data, where higher means a more evenly mixed student body. It measures mix, not quality.

  1. 1 Newell Elementary School 63.3/100
  2. 2 Seedling Mile Elem School 60.9/100
  3. 3 Shoemaker Elementary School 60.0/100
  4. 4 Gates Elementary School 58.3/100
  5. 5 Westridge Middle School 57.8/100

What do families ask about schools in Grand Island?

Which Grand Island school has the highest Resource Investment Index? ▼

Gates Elementary School has the highest Resource Investment Index among the Grand Island schools in this federal-data comparison at 61/100. The index summarizes reported staffing, counseling, gifted-program, and attendance inputs; it is not an academic rating.

How many schools are in Grand Island, NE? ▼

Grand Island has 23 public schools with a total enrollment of 11,267 students. Average student-teacher ratio: 15.5:1.

Other Cities in Nebraska

Omaha
155 schools
Lincoln
66 schools
Bellevue
29 schools
Papillion
17 schools
Kearney
15 schools
Fremont
12 schools

Side-by-side: Compare any two schools or districts in Nebraska →

Data from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) 2024-25 and Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 2021-22. The Resource Investment Index uses reported student-teacher ratio, counselor access, gifted programs, and attendance; it is not an academic rating. Cities must include at least five schools to be listed. This public-data comparison is for informational purposes: verify current enrollment, attendance boundaries, and programs with the school district before acting. See the guide to understanding NCES data.