Nebraska Students
Write On

Added emphasis on writing in Nebraska schools, as part of the effort to meet the No Child Left Behind Act requirements, has led to improvement in writing among all students, including those in subgroups. Included: Results from Nebraska's writing exam.

The percentage of Nebraska's fourth-, eighth- and 11th-graders judged to be proficient at writing increased to 86 percent this year from 83 percent last year, noted the state's department of education.

Nebraska is using the writing test to meet one of the criteria required under the federal No Child Left Behind law to measure student performance.

Scores increased overall as well within all tracked subgroups, including blacks, Hispanics and students from poor families, according to an Associated Press article in the Grand Island Independent.

"State Board of Education member Joe Higgins said the increase in scores for English-language learners and Native Americans were the most exciting. English language learner scores increased to 66 percent from 58 percent. Native American scores increased to 78 percent from 71 percent...," the article noted.

"It is important that in all groups the scores were increasing and not going down, [Education Commissioner Doug] Christensen said.

"Overall, 83 percent of fourth-graders, 85 percent of eighth-graders and 90 percent of 11th-graders were proficient...."

ADDITIONAL RESOURCE

Some of the information in this article comes from the U.S. Department of Education. To learn more about this article, you might read:

• Statewide writing scores increase
  This news article appeared in the Grand Isle Independent August 26, 2005. Note: This link was live at the time of publication. Some newspaper Web sites require registration. Others retain complete news stories for a limited time.