School Assessments
Released For Area Districts

In the last quarter of 2021, students’ individual results from the 2020-21 Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) State Assessment were sent home for local students. Then, in December of 2021, the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) released summary results from those assessments.The assessment covered grades three through eight in both Mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) proficiencies. In a letter to parents, FPS Superintendent Stephen Grizzle wrote, “The last two years have been a challenge for the education community across our state and nation. With the learning loss attributed to the ‘Covid Closure of 2020,’ the many challenges we faced in re-opening our schools and providing a dual platform (in-person or remote) experience for our students, our district continued to face unique challenges as we returned ‘to normal’ for the 2020-21 school year. These included continued cases of Covid 19 in our students, staff, and community. All of these factors played a part and created unique challenges for districts as we returned ‘to normal’ for the 2020-21 school year.” The state wide averages were 46 percent for math skills and 48 percent for ELA.Of the six local area schools, Thayer Central came out on top in math at 69 percent and Diller-Odell Public Schools in ELA at 62 percent.Bottom performers were Wilber-Clatonia in math at 28 percent, while Fairbury Public Schools scored the lowest in ELA at 35 percent. It is important to remember that the final scores are averages of all the grades. When broken down by individual grades (see the accompanying chart), scores rose and fell in various grades for each school.Randy Kort, Superintendent for Meridian Public Schools, told FJN, “We were above state average in Language Arts but below in Math. Our school improvement team is specifically working with number sense strategies to help improve our scores for next year.” Randy Schlueter, Superintendent for Tri County Schools, said, “The 2021 spring NSCAS shows that Tri County students are at or above the state average in almost all of the grade levels and curriculum areas. Staff members used the NSCAS data along with the MAP data to determine areas of strength for students and specific standards that staff members need to review and reteach for student learning. The ACT data reflects the continued strength of the students at Tri County in the areas of ELA, Math and Science. Tri County students are above the state averages in all three areas. Students and staff set academic goals for improvement in the assessments and work to meet or exceed those goals. Mike Meyerle, Superintendent for Diller-Odell, told FJN, “At Diller-Odell, we feel pretty good about where we are, but are always looking to improve. NSCAS assessments are just one aspect of the balanced assessment system that we use to inform instruction and monitor progress at the individual, classroom and grade levels. Students and teachers have faced and risen to meet unprecedented challenges since March of 2020, and we appreciate everyone’s efforts.”

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