OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Five years after the pandemic began, Nebraska students are showing signs of academic recovery, though challenges remain.
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"About 70% of our counties have seen declines in chronic absenteeism in the last four years," said Nebraska Education Commissioner Brian Maher.
The state aims to cut chronic absenteeism rates in half from pandemic levels.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% of classroom time, which can be as little as two days per month. Before the pandemic in the 2015 school year, roughly 11% of Nebraska students were chronically absent, according to Attendance Works. In the 2017-18 school year chronic absenteeism rose to 14.6% and, in the 2021 school year, that number jumped to 23%, while nationally it exceeded 30%. The state now reports a decline to 21% chronic absence.
"Nebraska students showed improvement in English, reading and math on the ACT," Maher said.
Unlike some states, every Nebraska high school junior in public school takes the ACT. The state's average score of 19.2 out of 36 is a full point higher compared to other states where every student takes the test.
Nebraska uses a ranking system for individual schools with ratings ranging from "excellent" and "great" to "good" and "needs support to improve."
"327 or just under 30% of our schools were classified as excellent," Maher said.
Every school in Elkhorn received "excellent" marks. Omaha Public Schools, the state's largest district, has a variety of classifications with almost 40 "needs support to improve" rankings.
"We do have, year over year, and this year, fewer 'needs support to improve' schools than in 21-22," said Susanne Cramer, OPS Chief Improvement Officer.
Additional positive trends include more Nebraska high schoolers taking Advanced Placement exams and earning college credits. Science scores for third through eighth graders increased by six percentage points.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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