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Vanna Huynh smiles while correcting a quiz during summer school at Del Sol High School Wednesday, June 16, 2010.
Thursday, June 17, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Related document
One state, many rates
41.8 percent: What a new report by Education Week says was Nevada’s graduation rate in 2007, based on the journal’s own formula.
51 percent: What Nevada says the rate would have been if the correct data had been plugged into Education Week’s formula.
67.4 percent: The graduation rate reported by the Nevada Education Department for 2007, using its own formula.
Keith Rheault
Rory Reid
Brian Sandoval
Sun coverage
Sun archives
- Ad points to accomplishments of high school seniors (6-16-2010)
- Long road to graduation: Faces of adult education (6-14-2010)
- Road to graduation runs through science test for Class of 2010 (5-27-2010)
- Superintendent suggests ways to increase graduation rates (2-11-2009)
- Graduate rates too low, dropout rates too high (1-2-2009)
Let’s get this out of the way — Nevada’s high school graduation rate, no matter which of the multitude of formulas is used to calculate it, is dismal.
But the Silver State took a particularly severe drubbing in the latest report from Education Week, a Washington-based journal, which compared graduation rates nationwide. Nevada landed in last place with just under 42 percent for the class of 2007, compared with just under 70 percent nationally.
The accuracy of the state’s graduation rate, which is often reported by the Nevada Education Department as 10 to 15 percentage points higher than the ones calculated by outside researchers, has long been a point of debate. In 2007, the year used in the report, Nevada put its rate at 67.4 percent based on a formula that 28 other states use.
Keith Rheault, Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction, has an explanation for at least part of the poor Education Week showing: Nearly 6,000 students were incorrectly counted as having dropped out between the ninth and 10th grades. Had those students been included, the graduation rate would have been 51 percent, Rheault said. (The problem stemmed from how Nevada classified its 10th-graders in 2007 — the regulations have since changed.)
The Education Week formula “is absolutely the worst formula you could generate for Nevada if you want an accurate graduation rate,” Rheault said Wednesday.
Rheault expressed his concerns in a June 9 e-mail to the project’s researchers after reviewing an advance of the report.
He asked whether the researchers had noticed the significant gap between Nevada’s graduation rate and that of the next-lowest state. The 13 percentage-point difference between Nevada’s 41.8 percent and New Mexico’s 54.9 percent was the widest gap between any two states, and should have triggered a review, Rheault said.
Reporting “a generalized graduation rate without taking into consideration the unique circumstances of an individual state does no justice to anyone,” Rheault said in his e-mail.
The report leaves the larger questions unanswered: What are the underlying issues contributing to the state’s high dropout rate? Insufficient funding for public schools? Not enough emphasis on proven preventive measures such as early childhood education? Too few opportunities for remedial help? Inadequate parenting or turbulent home lives?
However it’s calculated, Nevada has a graduation crisis on its hands.
“The most important thing to do is acknowledge that, and talk about what are you going to do about it,” said Daria Hall, director of K-12 policy development at Education Trust, a nonpartisan policy watchdog group in Washington.
Although schools can’t control students’ home lives or significantly change the broader community influences they are exposed to, “they certainly have control over the quality of instruction and the kinds of the support the student receives to stay on track to graduation,” Hall said. “Those are the things that schools and education policymakers need to be focusing on.”
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rory Reid, who has proposed sweeping reforms of how public schools operate and are held accountable, agrees.
Instead of quibbling over the graduation rate percentages and how they were calculated, Nevada needs “fundamental reform so we can be one of the best states in the country, and not have to explain away our poor performance,” Reid said. “Let’s give people reasons to celebrate education in Nevada, attract new businesses and grow.”
Brian Sandoval, the Republican candidate for governor, has not released his education plan, but said Wednesday it would be forthcoming.
Sandoval said he was disappointed that the new report shows Nevada’s graduation rate continues to lag, adding “our state’s children deserve nothing less than the highest quality education which keeps them engaged.”
Sterling Lloyd, a senior research associate at the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, which produced Education Week’s report, also said debate about the graduation formula should be secondary.
“Numbers are important, but those numbers represent real students,” Lloyd said. “Even using the state’s reported graduation rate, too many Nevada students are falling short of a high school diploma. That’s a concern from an economic and a human perspective.”
Based on Education Week’s calculations, no state saw a sharper decline in its graduation rate than Nevada, which dropped to 41.8 percent in 2007 from 65.7 percent in 1997. During the intervening 10 years, Clark County grew to the nation’s fifth-largest school district, with a soaring population of students from low-income households, as well as those for whom English is a second language. At the same time, the district had one of the nation’s highest transiency rates, with 35 to 40 percent of students changing schools or leaving outright during a single academic year.
“We’ve had so many challenges, it’s just not possible to fairly compare us to anywhere else,” said Sue Daellenbach, assistant superintendent for assessment and accountability.
District and state officials say they’re not giving up the public relations battle over reporting graduation rates. They intend to compile and report what they argue are more comprehensive snapshots of graduation rates, which include adjusted diplomas awarded to special education students, as well as data on students who are successful in Adult Education programs but might take longer than four years to finish course work. Neither group is currently counted as part of the “leaver” formula and both are excluded from the “cohort” formula that will be adopted next year.
The rejection of adjusted diplomas from the formula particularly rankles Rheault. Last year in Nevada 1,200 special education students completed the requirements of individualized education plans. Their adjusted diplomas are accepted for entry at the state’s colleges and universities, and at many other higher education institutions nationwide, Rheault said.
The formula Nevada and 28 other states have used is called the “leaver rate,” and had been the preferred method of the U.S. Education Department. But some critics complained it made it too easy for districts to mask the true number of dropouts by claiming students had left the area entirely.
In 2005, the nation’s governors agreed to adopt a uniform formula — known as the “cohort rate” — for calculating graduation statistics. The formula calculates the percentage of students who enter as ninth-graders and earn their diplomas within four years. The class of 2011 will be the first measured using that standard.
The adoption of the formula is good news, said Marcus Winters, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute in New York. As recently as a few years ago, some districts were using creative methods to claim more than 90 percent of their students had graduated, which was “absolutely fanciful,” Winters said.
“It lulled the public into believing that public schools and students were doing just fine,” said Winters, who has researched graduation rates for the conservative think tank. “Any statistic is going to be imperfect, but we’re moving closer to an honest picture. And that’s going to let us focus on where the problems really are.”
The formula adopted by the governors could be a challenge for Clark County because it will be penalized for students who leave the district without providing forwarding information indicating they are still in school. (In 2007, the district looked for the 3,791 high school students who had been enrolled the prior spring but did not return in the fall. The district was able to locate only 1,020.)
The district’s graduation rate had slowly inched upward, and was reported at 68 percent in 2009. There have been expanded efforts at helping struggling students make up missing course work and prepare for the proficiency exam, including winter break and spring vacation boot camps and summer school opportunities. Seniors who didn’t pass the required proficiency exams in time for this month’s graduation ceremonies can try again in July and still be counted as Class of 2010 graduates. But Daellenbach said she still expected the percentage to drop by 10 to 13 points when the cohort rate is adopted next year.
The recession could yield a silver lining for the district because of the expected decrease in the transiency rate over the next few years — a key factor in a student’s chances of graduating on time.
“You can get a great education in the Clark County School District,” Daellenbach said. “If you stay with us, I’d put it up against any other district in the country.”
Here's a great idea,,,, let's throw MORE money at them. Cleveland and Detroit thinks this is the way to go and look at them! Or maybe, could the illegals be dragging down the system? Just asking.
My oldest child graduated this year and received CCSD's advanced diploma. My youngest is in High School.
I can say for a fact few if any of our children "get a great education". Unless you walk away from a train wreck and can say I learned something...
It does not serve my interests to advocate for an over hall of the "5th largest" and only monopoly K-12 education institution in America.
Folks, CCSD is not only hurting Clark County, it is a drain on the whole State of Nevada!
Break up the CCSD monopoly, with over 300,000 children, now! It is not working and will never be "fixed". Arguing over the numbers when your end game is we are the worst but not as "worst" as the numbers say is just about as stupid as any parent sending their children to CCSD buildings.
Contact Rory and Brian and demand they commit to submitting a "Bill Draft" that limits the size of school districts in Nevada! Contact your legislators and demand they support breaking up the special interest monolithic monopoly called CCSD.
I find it interesting that the people in charge of the school system are debating about how the graduation rate is actually calculated and that the rate isn't 42% but closer to 51%. Um hello! Does it really matter whether it's 42 or 51...both numbers suck! What's with the excuse that "We've had so many challenges, it's just not possible to fairly compare us to anywhere else," said Sue Daellenbach, assistant superintendent for assessment and accountability.
How the h3ll else are we to compare how you're doing YOUR job? These people think that as long as kids are in school they're doing their job.
I can think of 10 things that they could do to turn this around and what are they going to do about the low graduation rate? Wait for another study that bumps the number to 53%? Sounds like the unemployment rate needs to go a little higher and time to clean house.
When more than 50% of the student population is hispanic with no english speaking skills, the drop out rate will mirror that population. All the while, the taxpayer is footing the bill. VOTE OUT THE INCUMBENTS who have allowed this to happen!!!!
These high school children are our future. They need to be well educated.
my friend green617,
you are right in your assessment. CCSD has fought hard to prevent it ever be "compared".
CCSD has for years found excuses; we are growing to fast, we can not find enough teachers, we are underfunded, too many mexicans, (now) we are not growing, we have to lay off staff, we are in a recession and kids are hurting, too many mexicans.....Texas, New Mexico and Arizona all have "spanish" speakers...but it is CCSD's best excuse.
(it is like the adage; "because they are "teenagers"", being one is not a reason or an excuse! except for incompetent parents and inept school administrators.)
What we need is more than ONE K-12 system in Clark County; THEN WE CAN "COMPARE" and hold accountable.
The numbers are stunning.
Even if the more generous 51% is used instead of 42% that's still LOWEST -- by far. Only five states (including NV) are under 60% graduation rates.
42% is probably closer to the graduation rates found in Third World countries than to other US states.
Peaches,
Think for a minute. If you have two school districts then you are going to double your costs at the top. More admin running two districts instead of one. Where are you going to get the money for this?
One of the biggest problems with CCSD is the parents of the kids in this valley. They don't care about education. They don't make their kids do their homework, show up on time for class or even pay attention for that matter. Most of the schools today are babysitting for thugs. No respect, no responsibility.
It is not just CCSD. Spend some time at some of the many private schools in Vegas. Same problems on a smaller scale.
Until the parents start taking responsibility and control of their children no number of school districts or money is going to fix this problem.
Consultantd: The Clark County School District's enrollment for the 2009-10 academic year was 41 percent Hispanic. Additionally, about 20 percent of the district's students are English language learners, which covers a wide range of fluency.
CCSD needs to quit acting like all kids are going to college. Have lots of trade programs so students actually get an education in something they can see will be useful when they graduate.
I am so sick of bloggers blaming every ill on Illegals. I've been teaching HS in CCSD for many years; my colleagues and I work diligently to educate & entertain by grabbing and holding the interest of young adults who have either been under- or over-parented. The LV economy and the casino's need for under-educated workers has been pandered to in this state for too long! Let's stop blaming illegals, teachers, parents or students and do something about parent apathy, instant gratification through cellphone or Ipod usage and an under-funded school system. The constant whining about taxes is so 1970's, schools, roads, streets/lights, police, fire and yes education require that we all share in the burden of taxation for the greater good!
If you want your children to get a great education, and you are willing to do your part as a PARENT, your child will receive a great education.
Any damn fool understands why CCSD has a low graduation rate.
Unfortunately, we tiptoe around those tulips with such an IMMENSE sense of "political correctness", the message is obliterated by the obfuscation and pandering and niceties.
Can you say "Socio Economics"???
Sure. I knew you could!!!
It is a question of value.
Students know that they are going to be passed to the next grade regardless of how they perform. The attitude is why value hard work. Holding students back is not the answer either. Research shows that when students are held back, they do not improve.
Many parents do not value or encourage their children to value education. There are multiple reasons for this, but placing blame (or excuses) does not solve the problem.
Research indicates there are many ways to instill value in education. It starts with teacher skills and methodology. Can you remember your favorite teacher, did they indicate education was important? The valuing of education has to start in the earliest grades. Students need to feel that there is a reason to go to school. Teacher training is one answer.
Nevada needs to stick to the standards they have created. Every grade level and subject has standards. Students need to show competence at each grade level and subject. If not, use remedial classes in place of electives. Why should a high school student be allowed to take four years of PE and not pass the proficiency exams and graduate.
There is not a quick or easy solution to this problem. I am aware of high school students that could not solve sixth grade math problems. Don't blame our high school teachers for years of failure. The problem cannot be fixed by high school teachers alone.
This problem does not end when high school is over. Nevada employers want employees that can read, comprehend what they read, write, and problem solve. The high school dropout is not meeting the expectations of Nevada Employers.
Why do I feel that this broad indictment of our whole educational establishment will be met with the clarion call for one narrow solution: give us more money!
Look, I am not reflexively anti-tax. If the investment is sound (meaning it will produce real benefits for the tax payers over and above the costs the tax will impose) I am willing to consider a new tax, and maybe even fight for it.
But right now the case for more money is on shaky ground. Let's not forget that spending on education went way up in the last decade, even though the results have been poorer. It is also interesting that whenever it is time to blame, the educational establishment will look everywhere else. If it really is things beyond the school's control that keep kids from learning and succeeding, why will paying the schools more magically lead to success.
An indictment this bad should mean that we be prepared to blow the whole thing up. More revenue? Possibly yes. But with it should come accountability, the end of tenure, the end of the teacher's union, the end of bureaucracy, the end of anything tied to the failing status quo.
This graduation rate is pretty disturbing. Someone from CCSD should talk to the Fairfax County school district in Fairfax, VA and find out what they've been doing the last 50 years to keep graduation rates of near 100%. I can't remember a single kid from my high school dropping out, just one that got expelled, and over 400 of our graduating class of 430 went to some sort of college. There's got to be some simple changes the school district can make to improve things for these kids. 41% is heartbreaking.
Let's get some facts out there: 1. Teachers in CCSD DO NOT get Tenure (EVER) ther word does not exist in our contract. 2. Yes, education funding went up in the past decade, but no where near the enrollment increase so class sizes went up & supplies and technology took a hit. 3. Unsat reports and grading became so much a part of teaher's daily work load, lesson planning during prep times took a back seat to accountability and BTW, we are each evaluated 4 times a year and that is increased 4 fold if you're a probationary teacher (1st two years). 4. Standardized testing to satify NCLB has increased to the point of being a repetitve joke. 5. Lastly, the extra funding is to parent the kids who are not parented at home, that is not outside of education, it is part of the process.
sonofsynyrd...
Are you a lenerd too?
You are comparing a predominantly affluent, predominantly white, NON-GAMING, bucolic little burg out east to Las Vegas???
Sorry. That won't work.
SOCIO-ECONOMICS, son.
Comment removed by moderator. Off-focus.
VegasVegas, I'm sick of your constant disparaging remarks about our city and our State. If you hate it this much, please feel free to leave. You're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. We're not going to just "accept this place is going to be ground zero for failure".
Thank you for teaching our kids NVCitizen. I honestly think part of the problem is that parenting is HARD WORK, and not many seem to realize that before they have children!
My kids are doing great, but I have to constantly monitor their grades through Parent Link. That's what decides their weekend plans - missing assignments or slipping grades = a weekend of making up assignments and emailing the teacher to either apologize or ask for additional help. Funny how just a couple weekends of that clears everything up! :)
Only CCSD's top administration will make the argument that two, three, five school disctricts will "cost" more.
Again, the school district in Reno gets the same funding and has less than 80,000 students. They have a higher graduation rate, more kids going on to college, higher SAT & ACT test scores, and the highest rated school in the state. This "other" smaller school district is doing it without needing more money and twice the superintendents.
dumb nevadans, are, dumb?
If all casinos and other service industries are encourage to hire only those with high school diplomas, the graduation rate will go up dramatically. But the casinos and other service industries prefer to fill their service positions with uneducated employees because they will most likely not ask for wage increases and easy to manipulate by their employers. When 9th or 10th graders start earning a minimum wage and start to buy all the "cool" stuffs with their own money, they think they don't need to finish high school to earn a living. And when the parents do not encourage them to finish high school, then they just continue working and don't go back to school. Hopefully this recession will help the high school graduation rate to go up. If they are competing with college graduates or even with masters degrees for a minimum wage job and they don't get hired, they will realize they need at least a high school diploma to compete and get hired.
I moved here in 2002 with a pretty strong resume. I hold a bachelors degree and have Fortune 100 management and consulting experience with solid, verifiable numbers for my accomplishments at increasing revenue, reducing costs, reengineering business processes, etc. It took almost a year to find a job and when I finally did, it was at 60% of what I was earning in the Chicago. In talking with executive recruiters and other job seekers at the time, it became very apparent to me that Las Vegas does not value education. Some of my fellow job seekers told me that they weren't able to even get an interview until they dumbed down their resume. The major employers here do not want people that can think for themselves. Until the employers in this area demand educated employees, the school system will be a joke.
We need to have a better way to evaluate our schools. A regional system based on location. Such as a New England states group, a mid Atlantic group, etc. This would produce a much fairer comparison of our schools achievement levels.
Here we should have a southwest system evaluation consisting of:
New Mexico
Arizona
Nevada
Southern California
Mexico
Guatamala
Honduras
El Salvador
This would provide a clearer comparison of our schools regional achievements. I think Nevada could be a leader in this evaluation.
Here's what I'd like to see implemented:
1. Implement pay for performance based primarily off of test scores. Get the unions involved in designing the system.
2. Make it easier to fire underperforming teachers. Two consecutive years of kids showing no improvement, and they're gone.
3. Split up the school district. I agree with peaches (post from another article) that it would create a sense of pride in your immediate neighborhood, and more importantly, competition in the valley.
Further comparisons on what other states are spending per child compared to Nevada would be helpful. You could at least draw some comparisons to how effectively the tax dollars are being used. I think you would also need to include the ethnic blend of other school dist to see how the state measures. Once again the devils in the details and you can't draw a effective conclusion with such a broad brush. I still think there has to be a number of ways to increase graduation rates and not complain about the method used to calculate the percentage. The bottom line is this state needs dramatic improvement in getting kids to graduate.
green617, the website http://nces.ed.gov has a lot of info on PPE, and demographics, etc.
Sorry folks, but it is time to face facts. Schools throughout this country are performing dismally with respect to actually educating kids, and with respect to graduating kids. Las Vegas (CCSD) is at or near the bottom of the list.
If you are among the few that really want to educate your kids, you are going to have to face facts and acknowledge that the only way to get a decent education is to pay for it. This means coughing up tuition for private scjools and doing without other things. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.
improvelLV
I like your article
School starts with the parents.(help them with attitude,goals,homework and projects).
The Kids should dress the same(dress codes).
English is to be tought,(this is the USA).
Phases (1 best),(2 normal),(3 poor) this will help with no child left behind.
Teachers should have a test or quiz each day to see if the students are performing.
There should be no curves on tests or quizzes.
Remember the U.S. is #1 in Education.
Now if the State listens to the cries of the people.
"We've had so many challenges, it's just not possible to compare us to anywhere else, said Sue Daellenbach, assistant superintendent for assessment and accountability."
This person's title helps explain why the students in Clark County schools have such a dismal record. Her high paying administrative job, with its impressive title says that she is duplicating the work of every school principal.
Re-direct the dollars paid to these high paid administrators to the front line people, those with the actual contact with students, and you will see a marked improvement in the entire school system.
This is simple. It's parents who could care less what their children are doing in school. The parent or parents are more interested in getting the swing shift so they can earn better tips. I'd like to see the percentage of students whose parents work in tip related jobs. I'm just curious to see if it's about 40-50%. I know there are parents out there who work in jobs where tips are a majority of their income and they are still active with their kids and the kids are doing great in school. But I can bet the majority are not involved, they are too busy gambling and sleeping on their off time. Most people don't move to Vegas to raise a family, so we should never expect the schools to be any better than the parenting.
Big Deal, Nevada hates education. No skilled labor here anyway. Service people do not need a high school education. Serving food and parking cars does not require history and math.
Man the white trash here are a riot
"English is to be tought,(this is the USA)"
As a native born and raised in Clark county....
my experience with CCSD as a student back in the 70's and early 80's (sort of) was not what I would call a positive experience.
CCSD was not very good (even back then..and I'm being "nice" here). As a matter of fact, I decided to go to a boarding school north of Lake Tahoe starting in my sophomore year. Needless to say, I'm glad that I did.
Not only did I graduate, I went on to graduate from a small womens college in Virginia (Sweet Briar) four years later. I probably would not have done that had I gone to Western High School.
Nick,
Your cyclical argument supports the reason no business would consider making Vegas there home base - "No skilled (educated) labor, no reason to establish business in the city".
CORRECTION: Education Week only uses data that Nevada sends to the U.S. Department of Education. If there was an error in reporting the data it would likely be Nevada's fault, not Education Week.
Nevertheless, the US Department of Education reports a graduation rate of 51 percent, using the same data. The difference between Education Week and the Department of Education is simply the methodology.
Education Week's results have remained at a consistent distance from the results in the US Department of Education over time which further suggests there probably isn't a single year data error.
Emily Richmond, I thank you for your insight and knowledge of Nevada's educational problems. You are one of the best journalists in Nevada--right up there with Jon Ralston, Steve Sibelius, Jonathan Humbert, Rikki Cheese, George Knapp, and probably others that I have not been exposed to.
I watch and listen to "Nevada Week In Review" and was always impressed by your contributions to one of the best PBS programs in the Nation.
Oops! I forgot to add John Huck to the above list. He, also is a quality journalist.
For those who have the time to teach your children at home or for those children who can work at home independently on their own there is an alternative to education. Clark County will send a free computer & books to your child FREE. To learn more please go to http://www.k12.com/nvva/ It may be the best investment you and your child ever made.
The truth is Nevada's schools are not educating our children, period.
When I moved down here almost 3 years ago, the classes my now 16 year old son was given for math, science, and history were one's he had studied 2 years earlier. The violence and lack of action on the part of school officials is appalling. My son is not perfect by any means, but he had avery involved parent who made sure he was taught to value an education, and held him accountable for not only his actions but who he chose to socialize with. Shortly before I sent him out of state to his father, there was an incident after school with a fellow student. This other child (white, not Hispanic by the way) tried to stab my son with a knife. This was directly after school, the student had the knife on him during school hours, a fact that was reported to school officials, and nothing was done.
This child had a few weeks earlier been involved in an incident at my other son's elementary school where he threatened children with violence and was armed. Why was he still in school, why was he not being held accountable or at least on probation and being monitored?
continued.....
My younger child has a learning disability, complicated by bipolar disorder. Despite countless recommendations from his treatment staff, the schools here refused to follow the guidelines needed for him to progress believing they knew better than professionals did. They refused despite it being clearly stated that what they were doing was detrimental to his treatment to accommodate his needs. When he had a manic episode, school personnel allowed him to be out of control and a danger to himself and others. I was not contacted when they could not find him for 30 minutes, or when he was later located and destroying a classroom, they did not contact me until he had been in a rage destroying the class room for an hour. It had been the recommendation of his specially trained treatment team for 3 years it was in the best interest not only of my child but also of staff and other students to not be in a standard school or standard classrooms. He needed placement in a specialized educational environment with a low student to teacher ratio including staff that were trained to deal with children such as my son. Even after this incident, the school district would not consider transferring my child. On top of that my sons education was a joke, his weighted report card said he was receiving A's and B's but upon questioning what his grades would be if measured by mainstream students his grades were F's or incompletes.
Understandably, my children are no longer in Las Vegas they deserved better than the pitiful excuse that is called an education here. My youngest son is now in a school district that values the recommendations of his treatment professionals, and values actually assisting parents in educating their children. He is no longer three grade levels behind and being advanced anyway. He is at grade level in reading, writing, and literature, surpassing grade levels in math, science, and social studies. This amazing progress was accomplished in little over a year. The education system here is failing our children and failing all of us as a society. I am not nor ever have been uninvolved or uninterested in my children's education quite honestly that is a copout for educators.
"When more than 50% of the student population is hispanic with no english speaking skills, the drop out rate will mirror that population"
sadly, a good point.
ROFL Kids? Future?
Drive by 80% of our schools around 2:00,and YOU will see our future
peace out
And no im not racist,or generalizing
Just the facts,Maam!!
Staff Member Emily Richmond types above:
Consultantd: The Clark County School District's enrollment for the 2009-10 academic year was 41 percent Hispanic. Additionally, about 20 percent of the district's students are English language learners, which covers a wide range of fluency.
That one comment right there explains it all to me personally,..
And then another intelligent comment by gmag: Socio Economics,..ahh... Now that sounds like a fun subject...not....
Oh, by the way I forgot to emphasize the ADDITIONALLY in Ms. Richmonds post, and 20% additionally thats a full 61% in the CCSD that use English as a second language...
No rocket science to me here..WOW....thats alot of kids in our school system
http://www.k12.com/nvva/ folks it's the wave of the future. Let the CCSD have all the Hispanic kids, they can then make it to all day Spanish classes instead of splitting the day half English/half Spanish classes which by the way, if I wanted my daughter to take her classes in Spanish, I would move to Mexico.
Say its not so.... but i been scyphering since the 3rd grade and look at me now......I finally made it to 7th grade.......lol.....
This school district is all but a joke...No wonder non english speaking kids are getting diplomas....
There has been bundling of the gaming industry, and bundling of education in Nevada into one very large ISD. Bundling seems to produce outcomes which reward those at the top for additional oversight, and punish everyone else, while cutting service to the customer (or student).
So, perhaps it is time, regarding education, for citizens in Southern Nevada to begin voting for candidates from Southern Nevada.
Second, perhaps it is time to consider putting together a plan to divide CCISD into two districts that compete, just as two or more companies on the strip COMPETE.
Third, perhaps it's time to bring organized sports programs to middle school aged kids. Busy minds and bodies are active minds and bodies. It kids are not getting discipline and responsibility assigned to them at home, they can get it from a coaches whistle strap for a couple of hours after school.
Consolidation of services at the county level outside the area of education suggested by Mayor Goodman seem reasonable on the surface, and should be given due diligence, with goals to streamline operations, curb overlap and possibly save some money.
But, it's time to stop voting for candidates from Reno and Elko and Incline Village in Northern Nevada, if you reside in Southern Nevada. Southern Nevada is putting put up the money, Southern Nevada should provide the leadership.
Si su pueda.