New data shows Nebraska's most recent high school graduates earned an average score of 22.1 on the ACT. That's the top average among states that utilize the college entrance exam the most.

The report released Wednesday shows that Nebraska's average score leads the 15 states in which 70 percent or more of 2009 graduates took the ACT.

While that's good news, Nebraska seems to have hit a wall when it comes to improving its ACT average, which has remained at 22.1 for the third straight year.

The highest score possible on the test is 36.

The rate of Nebraska graduates taking the exam remained at 72 percent, the same as in 2008.

Schools in Nebraska and other Midwest states have traditionally leaned toward the ACT exam, over the SAT.

Nebraska's average ACT score of 22.1 this year is better than the national average, which came in at 21.1 for a second straight year.

Nebraska's average traditionally has topped the national average.

The report also found that white students on average scored higher than other demographics, in a state where whites far outnumber other races and ethnicities. White students held an average score of 22.6. The 647 African-American students who took the test scored an average of 17.7, while the 852 Hispanic students testing scored an average of 19.1. The 117 American Indian students testing scored an average of 19.3, and 810 students who did not identify themselves by race or ethnicity averaged 21.4.

More girls than boys took the test, with the boys performing slightly better on average with a score of 22.4. Girls, on average, scored 21.9.

Nebraska Education Commissioner Roger Breed is offering a lukewarm response to a report that shows Nebraska's average ACT score for 2009 is above the national average and several other states.

Breed says he's not surprised that Nebraska's students performed well. He added that he tends not to get too fired up about test-score reports, saying "the exams are simply pictures in time."

Breed channeled former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne in saying that the state's educators shouldn't get too high in victory or too devastated in defeat.

He says it's the consistency of performance over time that differentiates between the great teams and those that are just playing the game.

Breed says he's more interested in the questions such reports spur, such as how to improve Nebraska's average and the averages of student subgroups.