Explore the Data

Eighth Grade Math Profiency

Eighth grade math proficiency improves despite COVID-19 pandemic

While research suggests that student learning in math was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic nationally,^21,22 eighth grade math proficiency among Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) students increased since 2018, when the last Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) was administered.²³

• In the 2023-24 school year, eighth grade math proficiency among LPS students was 56%, compared to 57% of Nebraska public school students statewide.
• Eighth grade math proficiency among LPS students had decreased to 45% during the 2021-22 school year but increased 11 percentage points for the 2023-24 school year.
  • This is 6 percentage points higher than when the NSCAS was administered in 2019.
• Eighth grade math proficiency among Nebraska public school students statewide has also increased from 47% in 2019 to 57% in 2023. However, changes in enrollment and differences in NSCAS participation rates complicates direct comparisons to previous assessment data. ²³
• Starting with the 2022-23 school year, about the same proportion of LPS eighth graders and Nebraska public school eighth graders are math proficient.
  • Since the NSCAS was first administered in 2016, a higher proportion of LPS eighth graders were math proficient compared to Nebraska public school eighth graders statewide.

Notes

Nebraska Department of Education, Nebraska Education Profile (formerly Nebraska State of Schools Reports), Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System.

The NSCAS Mathematics test from 2017-18 and later is not comparable to assessments in earlier years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NDE cancelled the school year 2019 – 2020 NSCAS assessment; therefore, there are no results from that year.

Footnotes

21. Lewis, K., Kuhfeld, M., Ruzek, E., & McEachin, A. (2021). Learning during COVID-19: Reading and math achievement in the 2020-21 school year. Center for School and Student Progress.
22. Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J., Tarasawa, B., Johnson, A., Ruzek, E., & Liu, J. (2020). Projecting the potential impact of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement. Educational Researcher. 49(8), 549-565. DOI: 10.3102/0013189X20965918. Changes in enrollment and differences in NSCAS participation rates complicates direct comparisons to previous assessment data.
23. The Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System (NSCAS) is the statewide assessment system for English language arts (ELA), mathematics, and science that public schools have administered since the 2016-17 school year. It is not comparable to the older NeSA (Nebraska State Accountability) assessment. The ELA and mathematics NSCAS test administered in Spring 2021 was shortened to preserve instructional time due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-participants were also not representative of the whole population. These factors, in addition to changes in enrollment and differences in NSCAS participation rates, complicates direct comparisons to previous NSCAS data.