Surprise, NE schools
Surprise’s public schools score well above Nebraska’s averages: 58% of students are proficient in reading against 48.2% statewide, and 95% of high schoolers graduate on time against 86%. Kids attend David City Elementary School or Shelby - Rising City Elementary School or Bellwood Elementary School through grade 6, then David City Secondary School or Shelby - Rising City Middle School and David City Secondary School or Shelby - Rising City High School.
Grades, test scores, graduation, spending and every school, from U.S. Department of Education data.
Surprise’s School Grade: B+
The public schools Surprise’s kids attend, from kindergarten through graduation, outperform 66% of Nebraska’s districts on state tests and graduation. Among towns with similar incomes, they sit near the middle.
How the School Grade works
- Results, not inputs. Math and reading proficiency on Nebraska’s state tests, each against the state average, plus the four-year graduation rate. Spending and class size are shown below but don’t count toward the grade. Tests: 2020–21; graduation: class of 2020.
- The whole path. A town’s grade follows its kids: every district that serves it, weighted by the number of students tested in each. Tests count 60% and graduation 40%.
- Graded within the state. Each state writes its own tests, so districts are lined up against the rest of Nebraska only. A+ top 5%A next 10%A- next 10%B B+ to B−, next 30%C C+ to C−, next 30%D D and D−, bottom 15%
- Individual schools are graded the same way on their own test results, against every public school in Nebraska with 25+ students. Private schools aren’t graded: they don’t take the state tests.
- What a grade can’t tell you. Test results track family income closely, so a high grade partly reflects who lives in a town. That’s why we also compare towns with similar incomes. Visit, ask other parents, and read neighbor reviews. It’s our own summary of U.S. Department of Education data, not an official rating.
Where Surprise kids go to school
Based on district boundaries from the U.S. Department of Education. Check with the district before you enroll.
Well below the state in reading
95% graduate on time
The share of students who started ninth grade together and earned a regular diploma within four years.
Two districts serve Surprise
Each district’s own page has its spending, test scores, enrollment and every school.
Colleges near Surprise
There’s no college in Surprise, but 2 colleges are within 30 miles. The closest is Concordia University-Nebraska in Seward, 17.4 miles away.
Straight-line distance from the center of Surprise. Degree-granting colleges with students on campus.
We don’t have any schools located in Surprise yet.