Sidney students perform well on standardized exams

Belinda Westfall, principal of North Elementary informed the school board that 2nd and 3rd grade students had improved significantly on standardized tests in vocabulary comprehension and fluency in preparation for NeSA testing. NeSA, or Nebraska State Accountability, tests the proficiency of students in various subjects statewide.

“So we’re on our way to our NeSA test and just trying to up the ante on all of those,” Westfall said.

Meanwhile 8th grade students recently finished their NeSA writing exam, in which they had to complete a descriptive essay.

“We once again had students stay after school on their own time because they wanted to finish and put in a good essay,” said middle school principal Brandon Ross. “So hopefully its a good strong results again this year.”

Eighth grade students continued this year to surpass other students across the nation on the EXPLORE test, which is a nationwide standardized test.

“To be honest, we always beat the national norm,” he said.

Sidney high school 11th grade students also completed a state writing assessment recently, which included a persuasive essay.

Some across the state again experienced some technical issues with the test. After some of the same issues last year, the results were invalidated because it couldn’t be proven that computer issues did or didn’t have an effect on how students performed on the essay.

“I certainly hope that’s not the case this year,” said high school principal Chris Arent.

Sidney scored an 87 percent proficiency on that test last year.