Garcia predicts improvement in Clark County’s schools

Terry Webster

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

The Clark County School District expects its dropout rate to fall this year and fewer schools to be in need of improvement.

The dropout rate is expected to fall to 5.7 percent for 2000-2001, compared with 6.9 percent the previous year and 9 percent in 1998-99, Superintendent Carlos Garcia told the Legislative Committee on Education Wednesday.

The district also reported that it anticipates four schools to be designated as needing improvement this year, compared with six the previous year.

Garcia attributed the decrease in dropouts to prevention programs and "cleaning up the system on how we monitor dropouts."

State Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, who chairs the committee, questioned whether the drop should actually be attributed to a change in the method for computing the rate. Garcia noted that the method was changed two years ago, when the first decrease was reported.

The four Clark County schools expected to be placed on the list of needing improvement this year are Kelly, Lynch and Tate elementary schools, and Monaco Middle School, Garcia said. In 2000-2001 six Clark County schools were on the state's list, preceded by six in 1999-2000, four in 1998-99 and 13 in 1997-98.

The designation is based on the fall TerraNova exam, which compares the performance of Nevada students with other students in the country.

Schools found to need improvement are asked to draw up plans to bring up student achievement and are given additional state funding for programs.

One of the areas school officials want to improve is the number of high school students going to college.

Testing director Judy Costa told the committee that only 35 to 40 percent of seniors attend college.

Clark County has one of the lowest percentages of college-educated adults in comparison to other large metropolitan areas, she said.