education:

Newsweek: 6 Clark County schools among nation’s best

Magazine says ranked schools are among top 6 percent of schools nationally

File photo

The Clark County School District administration building in Las Vegas.

By Cara McCoy (contact)

Thursday, June 11, 2009 | 3:56 p.m.

Archive of Sun education stories

Methodology of the report

Six Clark County schools have climbed onto a national honor roll of sorts with their inclusion on this year's list of the top public high schools in the country, as compiled by Newsweek magazine.

The schools are Advanced Technologies Academy, Las Vegas Academy of International Studies/Performing and Visual Arts; and Clark, Green Valley, Valley and Coronado high schools.

The Newsweek survey ranks schools based on the number of students who take college-level exams (Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Cambridge) and divides that figure by the number of graduating seniors. This year's list is based on 2008 data.

"There's been a big push to get more students into Advanced Placement classes. I think you're just starting to see it come to fruition," said Sue Daellenbach, the School District’s academic manager.

Last year the only county school that made the cut was Green Valley High School in Henderson. It also appeared on the list in 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2003.

The Newsweek rankings look only at the number of students who took the exams and doesn't factor in scores received. Private schools are also excluded.

In Clark County, 9,124 students took Advanced Placement tests during the 2008-2009 school year. Roughly half -- 4,278 of them -- earned a "3" or higher, which means the course can be used for college credit, Daellenbach said.

To be included on the list, a school must have an index of at least 1.000, meaning they are in the top 6 percent of public schools measured using this criteria, according to Newsweek.

Four of the six schools -- Advanced Technologies, Clark, Las Vegas Academy and Valley -- are select schools, meaning they have a specialized program or track, and students must apply to take that course of study.

"Students that elect to pursue a certain career path or have a school that focuses in on their interests, they're certainly much more motivated," she said.

Newsweek's list includes 1,500 high schools nationwide. Schools in Reno, Sparks and Incline Village also appear on the list, with the highest-ranked school statewide being Wooster High School in Reno, ranked 239. The two top-ranked schools nationwide are in Dallas.

The highest ranked school in Clark County was the Advanced Technologies Academy, which came in at 519. Clark ranked 658, Green Valley, 848; Valley, 926; Coronado, 1,248; Las Vegas Academy, 1,327.

Green Valley dropped from its 2008 ranking of 765, but fewer schools were included that year. Because there is no public database that includes testing information, the number of schools listed expands due to increased self-reporting.

Discussion: 7 comments so far…

By LasVegas2009

6/11/09 at 4:09 p.m.

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See I knew it! We are spending too much money in these schools. We need to cut back, taxes are too much in this state. Cut the fat and get these schools back to the average or below. No reason for us to be excelling it just cost too much money! Start with the salary of these teachers, no teacher should ever make more than $25,000-$30,000 a year. Some of them in this town making Twice and even three times as much. So who baby sits better a $75,000 teacher or 3 $25,000 teachers? Yeah cut that pay first!!!
By 2zero

6/11/09 at 5:01 p.m.

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Green Valley High is, not surprisingly, the school that the former CCSD Board President's, and 16 year Board member, kid's attend.

Scowl made sure the best of the district were in her "children" best "interest". The rest of the kids......too bad.

The other "special" schools are perfect examples of what can be achieved when you take them out of the district as a whole....or hole?

Break up CCSD now! Smaller is better and cheaper!
By lv_john_galt

6/11/09 at 6:14 p.m.

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Really? A survey based almost solely on the number of students who take AP tests cannot possibly identify how good a school is or is not.

Clark HS has a graduation rate of 57% and Valley's was 42%, both numbers are from the 2007-08 school year.

Any school could make almost every kid take an AP exam, but did they actually pass the exam? I am surprised to see that this study wasn't financed by the College Board who requires a fee (almost $90) for each AP test that a student takes. This is a non-profit who made more that $53 million "in excess" last year.

A more important question is, did these students actually receive college credit for taking and passing these AP exams? The trend among colleges is to no longer accept AP scores as a replacement for a college class. There are many reasons for this including putting too much importance on a single test and how is a college supposed to make any money if kids don't need to take four or five classes at their university because they passed an AP exam with a 3.
By bdover

6/12/09 at 1:40 a.m.

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Just very concerned that most of these schools have few Hispanic and Black students. Is there racism and discrimination in their enrollments?

Or are they just stupid? Comments, please....
By ZeddyBear

6/12/09 at 9:21 a.m.

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Valley HS has an Academic Achievers program that allows a student who has failed any course to receive a passing grade if that student completes a 3-day 8 hours per day computer course. Of course the student remediates this course at home. The student logs in (How can we be sure the student logging in is the same student who needs to take this course? We don't. We just hope the student is honest enough to fulfill his obligations). This means a student who has failed to complete his/her work in 45 days can by passing a 24 hour program can earn a half-credit per course. This program is only offered to students who hope to graduate this year. This seems to be a case of awarding LAZINESS with a HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA. Ask any teacher if this is fair. Of course the answer will be a resounding --- N O !!!! Ask any administrator and the answer will be the exact opposite. They will tell you anything that puts another senior in the graduation line will be a plus. My answer would be --- If a student fails, hand that student a SUMMER SCHOOL APPLICATION.
By Nevada_Ned

6/13/09 at 11:30 a.m.

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My children went to Green Valley HS, and I thought they got a pretty good education. Nothing is perfect, but it's a surprisingly high quality education considering the low salaries of the teachers.

Teachers also have to deal with the continuous slander by the Review Journal editorial and opinion page. The RJ portrays Clark County Schools as disasters, and it's not true. The top CCSD students go to places like MIT, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard. Does every student go to elite colleges? No. Not in Nevada or anywhere else. (The Sun is more reality-based.)

Quite a few of the teachers have second jobs in order to survive economically. If teacher salaries were higher they could quit their second jobs and spend more time teaching.
By forsjr

6/18/09 at 10:11 a.m.

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While I agree with the qualifications being a little shallow for determining "best" high schools, the article clearly defines what they are basing this on...so it is not shady or unfair. I know first hand that the number two school, Clark, is very diverse in it's population of AP students and the statement made regarding racism does not apply to this school.