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LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — This year's Nebraska high school graduates scored slightly lower on the ACT exam than those who graduated in 2015, but the drop is nowhere close to the plunge the state could see in the future.
A report released by the ACT organization Wednesday shows that the statewide average composite score for the Class of 2016 was 21.4, down from 21.5 the previous year.
Nebraska Commissioner of Education Matt Blomstedt attributed the dip to "natural variability."
The state could see larger drops after the Nebraska Department of Education moves forward on lawmakers' plan to replace the existing 11th-grade accountability tests with either the SAT or ACT for all high school juniors beginning this school year. Blomstedt said he'd recommend which test he prefers to the State Board of Education next week.
The ACT organization's report says that when states increase the number of test-takers, they bring in students who aren't as prepared for college.
In 2015 and 2016, 88 percent of Nebraska high school graduates took the ACT.
The amount of students who graduated high school in 2016 and took the ACT reached an all-time high at nearly 2.1 million — close to two-thirds of the country's students.
The average ACT score is also down this year nationally, from 21.0 to 20.8. The ACT organization attributes the drop to a significant increase in the number and percentage of U.S. students who took the exam.
Lincoln Public Schools participated in a pilot project to give the test to all juniors for the past four years.
This year's graduates in the Lincoln district had a composite score of 20.7, which held steady for the third year.
Less than one-tenth of 1 percent of students who take the college entrance exam achieves a 36, the highest score possible. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln wants first-time freshman to obtain an ACT score of at least 20.
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