Nebraska High School Grads Continue to Outscore Peers on ACT

By: Courtesy: Nebraska Department of Education Email

Updated: Wed 11:45 AM, Aug 22, 2012

Scores of student groups by race and ethnicity, five-year trend data:

Graduate Groups - Nebraska	2008	2012
All Students	22.1	22.0
Black/African American	17.5	17.1
American Indian/Alaska Native	19.1	17.9
White	22.5	22.7
Hispanic/Latino	19.5	19.0
Asian	22.9	22.1
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander	Not Available	18.1
Two or more races	21.3	21.6
Prefer not to respond/No response	21.9	22.6

Nebraska’s 2012 high school graduates scored higher than their peers nationally on the ACT college entrance exam and also outpaced other graduates in English, reading, mathematics and science scores that measure college readiness.

In the four areas that ACT used to determine college readiness, Nebraska high school graduates scored higher than graduates in other states in each subject:

· 75 percent met the English goal, compared to 67 percent nationally.
· 59 percent tested ready in reading, compared to 52 percent nationally.
· 51 percent met the mathematics benchmark, compared to 46 percent nationally.
· 36 percent tested ready in science, compared to 31 percent nationally.

The state’s high school graduates scored on average 22, compared to 21.1 nationally. Nebraska students have a long tradition of outscoring their peers across the country on the ACT.

The 2012 ACT scores released today showed that Nebraska’s average ACT score of 22 dropped slightly from 22.1 last year. The highest possible ACT score is 36.

Of the 18 states with 75 percent or more graduates taking the ACT, Nebraska scored at the top, with 78 percent or 16,581 graduates taking the ACT exam.

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