Nebraska developed NeSA (Nebraska State Accountability) tests years ago. At the high school level, only grade 11 students are tested to provide important information about each school's ability to teach curriculum standards. Of course, Chadron High School has gained an academic reputation due to high test scores each year. For example, last year Chadron High School had the 3rd highest Reading scores among all Nebraska high schools.
However, high school accountability is changing!
This spring, we state legislation has replaced the NeSA testing for juniors with the ACT test. Schools have the option to make this change this school year, but it will be mandated by the following 2017-2018 school year. Nebraska law requires the state to cover the costs, which are relatively the same as the NeSA testing. This is the same ACT used nationally for college admissions and consists of: English, math, reading and science.
State testing for juniors will take place during the morning of April 19th and takes about 3 1/2 hours, including the writing test that Nebraska will adopt. When students register for the ACT they can select a college major that they intend to pursue form a list of 294 possibilities. When test scores are reported, the state will be able to collect data on the most popular majors among Nebraska's students as well as college-readiness of students for those majors.
April 19th will be a paid opportunity for students to take the ACT. Of course, many students continue to choose to take the ACT multiple times since only the highest ACT Composite score is recorded for college application.
