Nebraska ACT scores steady

Nebraska students' average score on the ACT exam held steady in 2011 for the fifth straight year, while Iowa's score inched up, according to a report released Wednesday.

Students in both states bested the national average, scoring 22.1 in Nebraska and 22.3 in Iowa.

The national average score rose slightly to 21.1 this year.

The annual report is based on the scores of the 2011 graduating class.

The maximum score possible is 36, achieved by fewer than one-tenth of 1 percent of students across the country each year.

The ACT measures the college preparedness of high school graduates in English, reading, math and science. Not all students take it.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Roger Breed said the state's score compares well to other states that test about the same percentage of their graduating class.

"The big question is 'Is that good enough?' and I think the answer is, 'Probably not,'" Breed said. "We have work to not only increase the number of students taking the ACT, but I think increase the overall performance of the students taking it."

Seventy-six percent of Nebraska's 2011 graduates took the ACT.

Nebraska's score has held steady as the state has seen increasing minority and poor enrollment, he said.

"In some ways it's a good thing we're maintaining that 22.1 with our student population changing," Breed said.

To push scores up further, parents must make good choices to put high school students on academic tracks to be ready for college and careers, he said.

Educators, in turn, must make sure that students have access to rigorous courses, he said.

For instance, he said, rather than students taking three general math classes such as business math, practical math and algebra I to satisfy a district's math graduation requirements, students should be required to take at least algebra I, geometry and algebra II.

Although average scores dipped at all seven high schools in the Omaha Public Schools, a district official said a contributing factor was OPS's effort to expand the percentage of students taking the test.

The scores also reflect changing demographics of the district's test-takers, said ReNae Kehrberg, assistant superintendent in the OPS curriculum and learning department.

Seventy-three percent of 2011 OPS graduates took the ACT, up from 63 percent in 2009, Kehrberg said. The portion of OPS test-takers who qualified for federal school lunch subsidies — an indication of poverty — increased from 37 percent in 2007 to 49 percent in 2011, she said.

"What we're trying to do is encourage more students who haven't thought about going to the traditional four-year college, or even the two-year program of study with an associate's degree, to be participating in the ACT so we can have greater opportunities for young people," Kehrberg said.

Nationally, scores varied widely among racial and ethnic groups.

Asian students led all test-takers with four in 10 scoring well enough in all areas — English, reading, math and science — to have a likelihood of success in those subjects in college. African-American graduates who took the test were least likely to be prepared.

Asian students were also more likely than other groups to take a minimum core curriculum of high school classes to prepare them for college.

Iowa Department of Education Director Jason Glass released a statement applauding Iowa's average ACT composite score, which was second-highest among states that tested more than half of students.

Sixty-one percent of 2011 Iowa graduates took the test.

More Iowa students are taking at least three years each of math, science and social studies and at least four years of English in high school, the ACT report said.

Seventy-nine percent — or 18,228 Iowa students — reported that they took these core courses, up from 17,990 students in 2010, it said.

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