Commissioner: Nebraska schools strong, but some still not reached

That was the message Monday given by Dr. Doug Christensen, the state’s commissioner of eduction, during the opening session of the Diversity in Education Conference at Chadron State College.

Christensen said Nebraska’s 86 percent high school graduation rate and the highest ACT scores in the nation are proof that the state’s educational system is a strong one. He said without a doubt the state does a great job of educating girls, students who are white and those from middle class or higher income homes.

But he said the results aren’t as good for boys, students of color, children from families that live below the poverty level and those who are learning English, move during the school year or have a disability.

“We can’t tolerate it when any student is poorly educated,” Christensen said. “That’s why we still have work to do. Not everyone will achieve at the highest level, but they all must have the chance. Our success has to be based on both excellence and equity.”

The commissioner said a third of Nebraska’s students have at least one risk factor, and the more risk factors that are present the greater the chances are that they will not receive an adequate education. He said 45,000 of Nebraska’s 300,000 students have a learning disability, 28,000 of them will move and change schools during the year and 20,000 of them are learning English.

Christensen noted that Nebraska has always had diversity, but the differences have become more complex in the past decade or so. He said the state needs to learn to celebrate the differences and not view them as deficits.

“We have great schools, we just need to reach more kids. We can’t rest until we make sure that the opportunity for basic equity is available to each and every one of our kids,” he stated. “A lot has been done in the last decade or so. We’re not starting like a lot of states are. We’ve done a lot, but more needs to be done.”

Christensen added that the Native American Initiative statewide, the Native American Advisory Council in western Nebraska and the Multicultural Leadership Conference in Scottsbluff have been success stories.

About 250 educators and Chadron State students who are training to be teachers attended the conference.