State Board hears weak NAEP results, adopts Nebraska literacy plan; mental-health training funding stalls

The Nebraska State Board of Education on Feb. 7 reviewed national benchmark results showing declines in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and debated several literacy and mental-health funding items before approving the Nebraska Literacy Project Plan.

Commissioner of Education Matt Maher told the board the NAEP results were “unacceptable” and said the data should be a “call to action” for policymakers and educators. Polly Bowley, Nebraska’s NAEP state coordinator, presented results showing Nebraska’s fourth-grade reading and math scale scores dipped from 2022 to 2024 and that Nebraska was slightly below the national average in reading for fourth and eighth grades.

Board approval of the Nebraska Literacy Project Plan followed public testimony urging the state to build structured-literacy and dyslexia supports modeled on long-running efforts in Mississippi. The board voted 7-1 to approve the literacy plan. Separately, a motion to authorize the commissioner to approve funding for school districts and educational service units to deliver…