Nevada gets an A- for school efforts

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2000 | 10:09 a.m.

But Nevada got an F for its school climate, and average-to-poor grades for improving teacher quality and for education resources. That included a C- for improving teacher quality, a C- in resource adequacy, a D in resource allocation and a C in resource equity.

Keith Rheault, deputy superintendent of public instruction, stressed the high marks in briefing a legislative study panel on the report Tuesday, saying it "reflects the quality we will get and do have in our standards."

Rheault added the report found that Nevada had done a good job in establishing new standards in English, language arts, math and science, and for its testing and evaluation efforts to measure the ability of students to learn.

Regarding the F for school climate, Rheault said that's due to classroom overcrowding, especially in southern Nevada where growth continues at a record pace.

The study says only 35 percent of fourth-graders are in classes of 25 or fewer, despite years of efforts to lower teacher-student ratios. And only a third of eighth graders were in reading classes of 25 or fewer. That's based on the 1998-99 school year.

In its overview of Nevada, the report says 21 percent of fourth-graders scored at or above National Assessment of Educational Progress standards for reading. The national average was 29 percent.

For Nevada's eight-graders, the figure was 24 percent, compared with a national 31 percent.

In writing, 17 percent of the state's eighth-grade students were at or above the NAEP standards. The national average was 24 percent.

In math, Nevada's fourth-graders got a 14 percent, compared with a national average of 20 percent.

The report ranks Nevada much better in its efforts at improving standards than did another assessment released last week.

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, an education research group, last week gave Nevada a C plus for its academic standards efforts.

Nevada started its effort to improve academic standards in the 1997 Legislature. A panel was appointed to create the tougher standards in the four subject areas, which took effect in classrooms statewide this school year.

Standards in a second set of subject areas, including geography, history, government and health, are now being established by the Council to Establish Academic Standards for Public Schools for schools to begin using in the 2000-2001 school year.