Nebraska releases data from pandemic education assessment

LINCOLN, Neb. (WOWT) - The Nebraska Department of Education has released data from a statewide assessment taken last spring.

Schools across the country are still reeling from the consequences of COVID-19. Nebraska Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt shared a snapshot of the state’s education status — where it is and where it needs to go.

While there was an increase in the number of schools that “need support to improve,” there was also an increase in the number of schools the department classified as “excellent.”

The agency makes those classifications based primarily on assessment scores, Blomstedt said that historically, marginalized students had a harder time during the pandemic. Assessment data shows only 30% of students who qualified for free and reduced lunches were proficient in English — 17 points lower than the state average of 47%.

”There’s going to be years of impacts that we’re going to have to unpack and unfold, and especially around the education of our students,” Blomstedt said. “Knowing that there’s challenges that we’re facing when we were moving to safe environments, or what we thought would be safe environments in the midst of the pandemic — but moving and disrupting the education of our students.”

Another big issue: attendance. NDC found there were 77,000 chronically absent students in the 2021-22 school year — nearly double the previous year’s total.

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