The 2016/2017 ELA, Math, and Science  (Nebraska State Accountability) NeSA test results for Norris Public Schools are now available to the public.  

Norris has historically performed above the state average on the NeSA assessment.  The 2016-17 results continue to demonstrate that Norris students perform routinely above state averages, and that with ACT scores, the composite average and percentage of students meeting college ready benchmarks are substantially higher than state averages.  

The NeSA Reading was changed this year to the NeSA -English Language Arts (ELA) and with that change, the assessment is aligned to different standards which makes it impossible to determine different trends  

As we expected, the percentage of students who were previously proficient is different from NeSA assessments of previous years.  We were told by NDE to expect this change in proficiency due to the changes from the Reading assessment to the ELA assessment including Text Dependent Analysis.  The rigor of these assessments was increased to reflect the increased rigor of the College and Career Readiness ELA Standards.

In fact, NDE discourages comparing results of NeSA-ELA with NeSA-R or NeSA-W from previous years. NeSA-ELA is a brand new test and misconceptions are likely if results are compared to the past tests. NeSA-ELA and NeSA-R are aligned to different standards and so it is impossible to determine trends in student achievement. Results from 2017 create a new baseline year for NeSA-ELA.

Changes in proficiency do not reflect poorly on students or teachers. The new ELA assessment raises the bar, and curriculum and instruction must be adjusted to meet these increased expectations of the College and Career Readiness ELA Standards.

2016-17 was also the first year that ALL 11th grade students across the state of Nebraska were administered the ACT.  Norris students performed well, having scores higher than the state average in every category reported.  The ACT composite average for Nebraska was a 19.3 and the Norris students’ recorded an average score of 21.6.  

Summary of the 2016-17 NeSA Results

ACT TEST-- GRADE 11

*  % of students meeting College & Career Ready Standards