Impressive role model

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009 | 3 a.m.

The Clark County School District could use more educators like Valley High School Principal Ron Montoya.

Thanks to his leadership, the school boosted test scores over the past five years to the point where it became the first campus in the district to earn the designation of a “high-achieving turnaround” school under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Schools can attain that title only if they had failed to meet the law’s academic requirements for three years before demonstrating high achievement.

As reported last week by Emily Richmond in the Las Vegas Sun, a sister publication of In Business Las Vegas, only 44 percent of Valley’s juniors passed the state’s math proficiency test five years ago. This year the success rate among juniors jumped to nearly 80 percent. Reading scores also soared.

Montoya employed a variety of initiatives to generate those results. He improved teacher morale, emphasized after-school tutoring and increased individual planning for remedial students. He also made sure students were better prepared for the state proficiency exam, while emphasizing literacy and other fundamental skills.

For added measure, he made sure his students felt good about themselves. Montoya has set a high bar for educators at underachieving schools to emulate. The district should do what it can to groom other principals to produce similar turnarounds.

Valley’s students should feel proud about what they have accomplished. We look forward to seeing them use what they have learned in school to become productive adults.