Friend Public Schools

The Friend Public Schools district in Nebraska consists of two schools: Friend Elementary School and Friend High Schools. While both schools have seen some fluctuations in performance, Friend High Schools stands out as the district's top performer, ranking 30th out of 168 Nebraska high schools and earning a 4-star rating from SchoolDigger.

Friend High Schools has made significant improvements in recent years, with a strong 88.1% 4-year graduation rate and impressive student performance on standardized tests, where 62.5% of 11th graders are proficient or better in ACT English Language Arts and 75% are proficient or better in ACT Science. In contrast, Friend Elementary School has seen more fluctuations in its performance, dropping from a ranking of 56th in 2020-2021 to 231st in 2021-2022 before rebounding to 129th in 2022-2023.

Both schools in the Friend Public Schools district share some common challenges, such as a high chronic absenteeism rate of 21.1%, which is significantly above the state average. Additionally, the district spends significantly more per student at the high school level ($26,459) compared to the elementary school ($20,113), which may warrant further investigation. Overall, the data suggests that Friend High Schools is the standout performer in the district, and the district may have opportunities to learn from its success and apply those lessons to improve outcomes across all its schools.