30 area schools need to improve

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Monday, March 3, 2003 | 11:16 a.m.

Rankings of Clark County Schools

The Nevada Education Department this morning released its annual school rankings, based on the results of the Iowa Basic Skills test administered in October. The possible rankings are exemplary, high achieving and needs improvement.Which Clark County schools received those rankings:

Middle schools: Bridger, Cashman, Cortney, Fremont, Gibson, Marlin, Monaco, O'Callaghan, Orr, Robison, J.D. Smith, Von Tobel, West-Edison

High schools: Desert Pines, Keystone Charter

The jump was predicted in December by Superintendent Carlos Garcia, who noted at the time that new testing requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act would likely boost the number of schools on the list.

The Nevada Education Department used the results of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills -- administered in October -- to determine school rankings. Campuses tagged "in need of improvement" for two consecutive years face sanctions as part of the federal act, including being required to offer students transportation to better schools and could potentially lose federal funding.

When Clark County School District's Iowa results were released in December, Garcia indicated he expected between 20 and 30 schools of the district's 277 schools to make "needing improvement" list.

The number of Clark County schools on the list had been steadily declining, from 13 in 1996 to just four last year.

Under the new federal law, schools must count the scores of all students, including those not proficient in English language or in special education programs. Previously schools were allowed to report those scores separately.

The Iowa test was given for the first time this year, replacing the previous Terra Nova exam.

"We have a new baseline on which to build," said Agustin Orci, deputy superintendent of instruction for the Clark County School District. "All of our schools are required to have improvement plans, regardless of how the state ranked them, and we'll continue to look at ways to boost student achievement for all our students."

Statewide 37 schools were designated as needing improvement, up from 10 in 2002. To be designated as such, schools must have more than 40 percent of students in grades four, seven or 10 scoring in the bottom 25 percent of the national comparison group.

Schools with more than 40 percent of their students scoring in the bottom quarter on any of the four subjects are entitled to additional state funding. Additionally, state education officials will send support teams to individual schools to help devise improvement plans. Some of that help will be paid for by federal grants authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act.

"The state of Nevada required accountability for, and offered assistance to, each of its public schools long before the No Child Left Behind Act," state Superintendent Jack McLaughlin said in a statement this morning. "We are dedicated to continuing this effort in conjunction with federal initiatives to meet high expectations for all students."

Two Clark County schools were recognized as high achieving campuses -- Bartlett Elementary School and Vanderburg Elementary School. Advanced Technologies Academy, a magnet high school which last year missed being ranked as "Exemplary" by less than one percentage point, earned the title this time around. It was the only Clark County school to earn the state's top academic designation.

"There's no reason every one of our schools can't be high achieving, and that's what we have to continue to strive for," said Edward Goldman, superintendent of the southeast region which includes both Bartlett and Vanderburg.

Additionally Martin Middle School, which did well enough in 2002 to get off academic probation after two consecutive years of low scores, was back on the list of schools needing improvement.

Fitzgerald Elementary in North Las Vegas, which spent four years on the "needing improvement" before scoring higher last year, again managed to stay off the list.

The list of Clark County's low-performing schools includes six of the seven campuses run by Edison Schools Inc.