OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s new academic assessments may eventually reduce the time students spend in state testing and get scores back to districts quicker, a state official said.

The state Department of Education’s Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System tests will replace the Nebraska State Accountability tests, the Omaha World-Herald reported.

The new tests, which students will begin seeing in March, feature computer-adaptive questions for math and English. The computer will adjust the difficulty of the questions based on a student’s answers. If a student gets a question correct, the next question will be harder. A wrong answer will result in an easier question.

The adaptive approach more quickly and accurately pinpoints how well a student knows a subject, said Valorie Foy, the state’s director of assessment.

“It engages our struggling learners, who may have more trouble encountering those very, very difficult test items and may be more frustrated and thus engage in the test less,” she said. “So it gives them items so they’re not overwhelmed.”

This year’s tests results likely won’t be available until fall, but scores should be available more quickly in following years, Foy said.

The rollout is the state’s latest attempt to find a testing system that meets state and federal requirements without burdening students and teachers with excessive testing. There have been three different testing systems used in the past two decades.

State and federal laws require public school students to be tested in math, English and science. The results must be made public and are broken down by various categories including race, ethnicity, gender and poverty.

The new tests mark a shift in philosophy, said Nebraska Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt.

“Ultimately, the accountability piece is part of our system, but not the focus of our system,” he said, “and I think that’s a good thing and a good place for Nebraska to be.”

The scores will still be used to identify low-performing schools that need assistance.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Trump administration will rewrite rules governing how to choose areas considered critical to endangered species to settle a lawsuit brought by 20 states and four trade groups, according to state attorneys general.

The endangered species director for an environmental nonprofit says that’s terrible news. Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity says the administration has “shown nothing but hostility toward endangered species.”

The attorneys general for Alabama and Louisiana said in news releases Thursday that the administration made the agreement Thursday to settle a lawsuit brought by 20 states and four national trade groups, challenging two changes made in 2016.

According to the lawsuit, the rules are now so vague that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service “could declare desert land as critical habitat for a fish and then prevent the construction of a highway through those desert lands, under the theory that it would prevent the future formation of a stream that might one day support the species.”

A spokeswoman for Fish and Wildlife referred a request for comment to the U.S. Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to phoned and emailed queries. A NOAA Fisheries spokeswoman did not immediately respond Thursday.

“We are encouraged that the Trump administration has agreed to revisit these rules, which threaten property owners’ rights to use any land that the federal government could dream that an endangered species might ever inhabit,” Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in his news release. “These Obama-era rules were not only wildly unreasonable, but contrary to both the spirit and the letter of the Endangered Species Act.”

Greenwald said, “Their case didn’t have a leg to stand on.”

But, he said, “The Trump administration doesn’t want strong and needed protection for endangered species. It’s not surprising they would just roll over and agree to rewrite the rules.”

He said critical habitat doesn’t require landowners to do anything.

“It requires federal agencies to ensure that actions they take don’t adversely modify critical habitat,” Greenwald said. “So it’s only when the federal government is involved in a project — either through funding or through permitting — that there’s additional requirements.”

Critical habitat is at the center of a separate lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court agreed in January to review district and appeals court rulings that upheld Fish and Wildlife’s designation of 1,500 acres (607 hectares) of Louisiana timberland as critical habitat for the dusky gopher frog, an endangered frog found only in Mississippi.

The 3½-inch-long frogs once lived in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but now live only in a few parts of Mississippi with temporary ponds that dry up in the summer, leaving them free of fish that might eat the frogs’ eggs. Adults come out of underground burrows in the winter and spring to breed in those ponds.

The Louisiana tract is the only land outside Mississippi that could be made suitable as a breeding ground, experts testified.

Greenwald said he doesn’t think new regulations would be approved in time to affect that suit. He says he doesn’t know of any other active suits involving critical habitat.

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GERING, Neb. (AP) — Sentencing has been scheduled April 23 for a 16-year-old student who attempted to sexually assault a teacher at a western Nebraska high school.

The boy admitted to a charge of attempted sexual assault after prosecutors dropped two related charges.

The boy was arrested the morning of Nov. 20, a few blocks from Gering High School in Gering. Court records say the boy used a pocket knife to menace the teacher before her class began, telling her to take off her clothes. She shoved him and ran to another classroom. The boy chased her and groped her and then ran from the school. The teacher was not injured.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t name juveniles accused of crimes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A survey geologist involved in producing the most recent state report on Nebraska groundwater says the levels didn’t really change that much over the reporting period.

Most of Nebraska received near-average precipitation from spring 2016 through spring 2017. University of Nebraska-Lincoln geologist Aaron Young says less groundwater for irrigation was needed than in drier years, so there was little change in average groundwater levels.

But the 2017 Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report released in late February also says Nebraska has seen a slight decline in groundwater levels over the five-year period starting in the drought year 2012. More than 70 percent of the 5,200 wells recorded showing water levels dropped a little under 2 feet (more than a half meter) on average.

MCCOOK, Neb. (AP) — A fire chief who says southwestern Nebraska’s Red Willow County is “sitting on a powder keg” has barred outdoor burning of any kind and is refusing to issue any burn permits.

Red Willow Western fire chief Bill Elliott said firefighters have been busy because it’s very dry in the area and conditions aren’t expected to improve anytime soon.

He advises landowners to closely monitor anything they’ve burned lately because embers can rekindle in a breeze.

The fires “are coming too fast and furious,” he said.

Red Willow Western firefighters have dealt with multiple fires in the past month, including one that was rekindled from a permitted burn on Valentine’s Day, Elliott said.

Another fire last week, which was caused by an electrical short, burned one house and injured a man. That blaze forced a large portion of McCook to be evacuated as firefighters throughout the area fought the blaze that was spreading quickly through dry grass.

Despite the strain of repeated fires, the Red Willow crew is doing well, Elliott said.

“I’m proud of them,” he said.

Red Willow Western has also received help from other area departments, which has helped with the challenging number of fires, Elliott said.

“That’s what fire departments do. They help each other,” he said.

Firefighters from Keystone, Lemoyne, Ogallala, Wallace, Imperial and Grant recently came to the department’s aid.

“They brought six trucks and two command vehicles, and stayed all night,” Elliott said. “They were a real salvation. We were beat. We felt so blessed to have their help.”

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would require lawmakers to review job-licensing requirements every five years drew support Wednesday from Nebraska legislators, overcoming previous opposition.

The measure is part of a broader national push to reduce licensing restrictions. On average, each state has about 90 licensed professions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, but in Nebraska there are around 200 licensed professions, ranging from potato shippers and bus drivers to dentists and teachers.

Requirements have risen over the last 60 years from about one in every 20 jobs requiring a license, to nearly one in every four professions today that are licensed.

Sen. Laura Ebke, of Crete, said the bill would mandate lawmakers to review all job-licensing requirements once every five years in an effort to reduce barriers to employment and promote market competition.

Ebke said lawmakers would still be able to create, delete any licenses as they have in the past.

“While this bill has the potential to change many things, by itself, it does not,” she said. “What this bill does is creates a structure for review.”

The measure would also allow people with criminal records to determine if their background would prohibit them from qualifying for a license before they complete any required schooling or certification. Ebke said that people now are unable to tell if their criminal history will bar them from a certain license, which prevents them from seeking out careers that require licenses. The measure would also allow them petition the decision if they are denied.

The ACLU found over 50 professions with licensing barriers for people with criminal convictions, ranging from barbers to child-care providers. Supporters said the bill gives a second chance to criminal offenders and could help their rehabilitation by creating more employment opportunities.

The measure received support from both right-leaning organizations such as the Platte Institute to typically left-aligned groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska.

The measure won endorsements from several senators who previously opposed it because of concerns about the impact on health care professions. Senators said in February they were worried the bill’s focus on economic opportunity and market competition would supersede the industry’s standard of health, wellness and safety. The bill stalled during debate last month, and Ebke pulled it from the floor to work on revisions.

In recent years, the Nebraska Legislature has taken action to reduce licensing requirements for several professions, including car salesmen and hair braiders. A bill to reduce licensing requirements for horse massage therapists is under consideration.

Other states have also introduced legislation to scale down on requirements, including measures that allow for relaxed licensing requirements across state lines for military family members.

The bill advanced 31-0 to the second of three required votes.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The deputy education commissioner for Nebraska has been named commissioner of the rehabilitation services administration in the U.S. Department of Education.

The Nebraska Department of Education announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump had named Nebraska Deputy Commissioner Mark Schultz to the post.

The department says Schultz has 34 years of experience in providing and developing disability-related services. For the past six years, he’s been director of Nebraska Vocational Rehabilitation, which is focused on training and employment for people with disabilities. He was the assistive technology partnership director for 20 years before that.

In 2016, Schultz was honored as the state Education Department’s supervisor/manager of the year.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A bill that would expand the kinds of guns firearms teams can keep on college campuses has won final approval from Nebraska lawmakers.

Senators voted 46-0 on Thursday to let college- and university-sanctioned teams possess rifles, pistols and shotguns on campus. Current state law only lets them have rifles.

Sen. John Lowe, of Kearney, says his bill would give sports teams the option to store, compete or train with such firearms on campus.

The measure passed with little fanfare. Lawmakers have introduced a variety of gun-related bills this year, but few are likely to advance.

The measure still needs approval from Gov. Pete Ricketts to become law.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A monthly survey of bankers suggests the economy is likely to continue improving slowly in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says crop prices have improved a bit, but remain relatively weak. That’s hurting business.

The overall Rural Mainstreet index slipped slightly to 54.7 in March from February’s 54.8. Any score above 50 suggests a growing economy in the months ahead.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.