Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

SCHOOLS:

Up for review: Who’s giving dropouts their second chance

Lawmaker wants responsibility for adult ed shifted to colleges

Desert Rose High School

Tiffany Brown

Cynthia Ramirez, 17, left, and Efrain Serna, 17, share handouts in a science class last week at the Clark County School District’s Desert Rose High School, where adults can study for a high school diploma.

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Principal Sandra Ransel says Desert Rose High School, the Clark County School District's only school for adults, serves students who otherwise couldn't stay in school and earn their diplomas.

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State Sen. Barbara Cegavske wants to move funding of adult education from local school districts to the state’s higher education system, arguing that doing so would help steer students away from the high school environment where they’ve already failed.

“If they’re dropping out of high school, there’s a reason,” the Las Vegas Republican says. “If they don’t feel comfortable there, why would you force them to continue to be there?”

Michael Richards, president of the College of Southern Nevada, says he looks forward to exploring Cegavske’s proposal. Legislation that encourages students to complete high school and continue toward a postsecondary degree is of critical importance to the state, he says.

But school district educators say such legislation would only derail a successful and cost-efficient program, which last year led 2,000 dropouts statewide to earn their diplomas.

Nevada ranks near the worst nationally when it comes to its dropout and graduation rates. The state spends about $20 million on adult education, including $7 million at correctional facilities.

Cegavske’s bill would shift adult education programs from local districts to campuses within the Nevada System of Higher Education.

“If we can get those 17- and 18-year-olds who have dropped out onto a community college campus, we might have a better shot at getting them into a two-year program or something vocational,” Cegavske said. “I want to show them that once you get on the college campus, it’s not such a frightening place.”

Some Clark County educators say a college campus can’t provide the level of support, and flexibility in scheduling, that successful Adult Ed programs require. And they wonder why Cegavske wants to tinker with a division that produces thousands of success stories each year.

For the 2008 fiscal year, 27,577 students were enrolled in adult education programs in school districts statewide. That includes students working toward their high school diploma, gaining proficiency in English and studying for U.S. citizenship exams and those preparing to take the General Education Development exam.

A GED does not require the same academic course requirements as a regular diploma. GED recipients also do not have to pass the state’s proficiency exam.

CSN also offers a GED preparation class. But community colleges aren’t currently authorized to issue high school diplomas. So does that mean if the adult education program moves to CSN, students would be limited to earning a GED?

Robert Henry, director of Adult Ed for the Clark County School District, said he’s asking the same question.

“Most of the students who come to us aren’t looking for a GED, they want the full diploma,” Henry said.

The School District’s graduation rate hovers around 60 percent, depending on the formula used. It’s nearly impossible to come up with a comparable rate for the Adult Ed program, Henry said.

The reason: High schools follow a group of students and then determine how many of them graduated by the end of their four years. In adult education programs some students show up needing only a few credits to graduate, and finish in three months. Others stay for three years.

Desert Rose Adult High School in North Las Vegas is the district’s only full-fledged adult ed campus, serving 3,274 students from early morning until late evening.

Among them: 454 students ages 17-19 who are part of a new program that combines vocational training with the core academic classes required for a general diploma.

Desert Rose Principal Sandra Ransel says her campus is an integral component of public education. “We’re not like everybody else — we have hundreds of students coming and going all day long, from 17 to as old as they need to be,” said. “We have to show people we’re an important part of the district. That’s hard to do when our students have dropped out of every other school. We don’t give up on them. They can still become important contributors to our community.”

Three Desert Rose students show the cross section of whom the school serves.

Israel Elder, whose penchant for skipping classes caused him to bounce his way through two comprehensive high schools and two alternative programs in the course of the 2007-08 academic year, arrived in July and is still trying to settle in.

He says he realizes the need for a diploma, and is focused now on completing a mechanical drawing class so he can advance to another class toward earning his diploma.

Jacquez Wright works 35 hours a week at McDonald’s and figures he won’t earn his high school degree until 2010. He said he is grateful for Desert Rose’s flexibility in accommodating his work schedule.

“Here you do everything at your own pace, nothing’s forced,” Wright said. “As soon as I complete this class I go on to the next one. And you can go as slow as you want, if you need to.”

And then there’s Margarita Evans, 17, who left school for an entire year before signing up at Desert Rose in August. She had been in the district’s individualized study program but was forced out after she failed to show up for the all-important proficiency exam. The reason? She couldn’t find child care for her young son.

She excelled in Desert Rose’s nursing vocation class, and is planning on becoming a certified nursing assistant through CSN’s program.

The district Adult Ed program has long wanted to add a vocational component, but lacked the facility and the resources. The phaseout of the Area Trade Technical Center in North Las Vegas, which offered vocational training to juniors and seniors enrolled at comprehensive high schools elsewhere in the district, gave Adult Ed its opportunity.

The last seniors are now taking classes at the School District’s trade tech center, which closes at the end of this academic year. Desert Rose Adult High School has moved in to the building and will inherit dozens of trade classrooms, including welding, electronics and automotive shops. Students also prepare for careers in health and hospitality fields.

Desert Rose has lower operating expenses than a traditional high school, because students are required to provide their own transportation and there’s no cafeteria. Many of the teachers work full time at other schools and teach one or two classes through the Adult Ed program as a way of earning extra-duty pay. The school is also popular with retired teachers who want to work only part time, relieving the district of having to pay benefits for them.

Cegavske said her proposal to put adult ed in the hands of the higher education system is motivated by the state’s tough financial outlook, and a long-held belief that the state’s K-12 and higher ed system should be working on more projects that complement, rather than duplicate, each other’s efforts.

“How do you save money? You share resources,” Cegavske said. “High school is done at 3 p.m. The community colleges should be using those facilities from 3 to 9 p.m.”

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