All high school students to take college admission test

All Nebraska 11th-graders will take a college admission test under a bill passed by lawmakers April 13.

Sponsored by Sen. Jim Scheer of Norfolk, LB930 requires public school students in the 11th grade to take a college admission test, such as the ACT or SAT, instead of current Nebraska State Accountability (NeSA) assessments.

The bill directs the State Board of Education to select the test and authorizes the state Department of Education to use lottery funds to pay for schools’ expenses in administering the tests in the 2017-18 school year.

It also ends the requirement for a statewide writing assessment after the 2016-17 school year and instead requires that the statewide reading assessment contain a writing component.

The bill passed 46-1.