The state writing assessment is given to 4th, 8th, and 11th grade students throughout the state of Nebraska.  Students are given an age appropriate writing prompt and asked to write an essay.  These papers are then collected by the Nebraska Department of Education and scored at a central site.  PLSD students score well above the state average and near the top of the metro area schools on the state writing test.  Over the past five years, the percentage of PLSD students proficient in the state writing test has improved nearly 10 percentage points at elementary, middle and high school.