As a student in my last year of free education, I am pretty used to constant national, state, and local school administered tests.  This has became a norm of my educational experience as well as the majority of students my age and older.  Announcements courtesy of superintendent Steve Joel and associates this year have informed me and all student body and staff that the NeSA (Nebraska State Accountability) tests are no longer given in high school; as the ACT (American College Test) will serve as a sort of replacement for proficiency in the high school level.  As the decision to discontinue the use of NeSA testing at the high school level came at the worst time for my class, as we were still made to take the tests last year even though we were aware that the test would not be given the following year.  So our results didn’t really have an effect as far as swaying the minds of those individuals who did indeed collectively chose to not give the test to students in the eleventh year anymore.  

Like I said earlier being given standardized tests all my life it had just become apart of my education and something I expected. I think with the NeSA not taken at the eleventh grade it will greatly put more pressure on students to do well on the ACT.  But as well as the pressure some might be more persuaded to take the test more seriously than the NeSA since many colleges require a certain ACT score for admittance into their college.  

There are some positives and negatives no matter how you look at the decision to no longer give the NeSA at the high school level.  But all in all I think it’ll be a positive thing and probably overall help students achieve higher ACT scores!