Randolph, NE
Randolph is a small city in Cedar County in the northeast corner of Nebraska, situated near U.S. Highway 20 and four miles east of U.S. Highway 81. The community population is approximately 905. Randolph is known as "The Honey Capital of the Nation” thanks to its unusually high per-capita number of beekeeping families. Randolph offers a quieter rural lifestyle, while maintaining local amenities such as parks, youth sports, and a community golf course.
Randolph Public Schools (RPS)
Randolph Public School District, #45, is a Class 2 district consisting of the towns of Randolph, Belden, Sholes, & McLean. The district operates K-6 and 7-12 attendance centers with approximately 275 students and 50 staff members. Randolph Public Schools operates on a modified 4-day school schedule. Randolph Public Schools is a State of Nebraska accredited school system. District strengths include a low teacher-student ratio, an experienced teaching staff, and an excellent staff development program that is supportive of the school improvement plan. Student achievement scores are generally above state and national averages.
We have strong community support for the education system of the Randolph Public Schools district. In May 2025, a bond was passed to renovate the existing elementary school as well as build a new Career and Technical Education Building. The district also houses a nonprofit daycare the Cardinal Kids Learning Center (CKLC) which also operates the 3 and 4 year old preschool.
Randolph Public Schools is in year 5 of a 5-year cycle of school improvement with our school wide goal of improving reading comprehension. All students will improve reading comprehension across all curricular areas and grade levels. We currently have a districtwide Continuous Improvement Team as well as Professional Learning Communities (PLC’s) within our own staff. Each PLC is composed of a smaller group of teachers that have their own area of focus. Example areas of focus would be curriculum alignment to state standards and career preparation activities. There are also building level administrative groups with more specific areas of focus. We operate a MTSS system for grades K-12. The elementary focuses on both MTSS-A(Academic) mainly in the area of reading & B(Behavior). The 7-12 building currently focuses on core subjects (Reading, Writing, Math, Science) and SEL systems of MTSS.
Additional demographic information found on the NEP website.
Student Membership: Randolph Public Schools has shown steady enrollment in the past five years maintaining a K-12 enrollment of between 260-270 students on average.
Student Race and Ethnicity: Randolph Public Schools averages just over 95% of students who are white, with hispanic students being about 2% and the other 3% being made up black or African American and students of two or more races.
Highly Mobile Students: Since 2021-2022, this percentage has fluctuated. However, in the last two school years, we have seen a decrease of 50% in highly mobile students.
English Learners Program: Currently there are no English Language Learners in Randolph Public School district. This is lower compared to the state average of 9%.
Teacher Data:
Approximately 29% of our teachers hold a masters degree.
Average years of experience is 16 years, 2 years higher than the state average.
Average salary for certified teachers is $54,565, just below the state average of $60,377.
100% of our teachers are white.
The percentage of teachers defined as "inexperienced" by the NDE has decreased from 23% to 13% in that past 2 years.
Currently there are no teachers teaching on a provisional/transition to teach certificate.
The percentage of teachers who teach out of their field of certification is 7%.
Free and Reduced Lunch Population: Free and reduced lunch populations are consistently between 30% and 40%. In the last five years we have stayed below the state average. Our current FRL percentage for 2023-24 is 36.51%
High Ability Learners: Randolph Public Schools has been identifying High Ability Learners. Randolph Elementary began a HAL program in the fall of 2016. In the beginning, students in grades 4-6 could qualify based off of classroom teacher recommendations, AIMS, MAP and NSCAS scores. The elementary program known as Cardinal Craniums, has evolved over the years from meeting once a week to everyday during interventions time. The Junior/Senior High School program began in fall of 2024. Students in both schools do project based learning and STEM projects to accelerate their learning.
Special Education: Randolph Public School did show a 5% increase in the number of students with disabilities since 2021-2022. Our current SPED percent for 2023-24 is 16%. This is below the state average of 17%.
Graduation Rate: Randolph High School continues to maintain a high graduation rate. We are regularly above 90% with a low of 88% and a high of 100% in the last five years.
Dropout Rate: In the past five years, our drop out rate decreased from 1.98% to 0%.
Attendance Rate: The attendance rate has remained high and consistent for Randolph Public Schools. In the last five years the low was 94.3% in 2019-2020 and the high in 2020-2021 was 97.07%. We have maintained the last five years at about 95%.
Chronic Absenteeism: Our chronic absenteeism has fluctuated in the last five years. Although we continue to be below the state average, we have seen decreasing trends. The chronic absenteeism around COVID-19 was 13.4%. In 2021-22 we saw another drastic increase. This is a focus area for our administration and staff.
School Mobility Rate: Randolph Public School dropped from a 4.42% to 0% since 2019-2020.
Graduation Requirements: Two hundred forty hours of credit are required for the general diploma.
Minimum requirements:
Forty Credits of English - Ten Credits of Speech or One-Acts may be substituted for ten credits of Senior English.
Thirty Credits of Math
Thirty Credits of Science - Physical Science and Biology are required.
Thirty Credits of Social Studies - Geography or World History is
required freshman or sophomore year; American History and Modern
Problems are required Junior and Senior Year.
Ten Credits of Physical Education
Five Credits of Financial Literacy