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By Paul Takahashi (contact) 
Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2011 | 1:58 p.m.
Related stories
- School District sees big drop in test scores (7-14-2011)
- States brace for grad rate dips as formula changes (7-27-2011)
- Effect on Nevada unclear as Obama calls for education reform (3-14-2011)
- More states defying federal gov’t on education law (7-21-2011)
The Clark County School District has been placed on a watch list as more schools failed to show enough improvement in test scores, officials said Wednesday.
The School District fell short of making “adequate yearly progress” under the federal No Child Left Behind two of the past three years. The district had made adequate progress in improving test scores last year, but failed to make progress in 2009.
Adequate yearly progress is a measure of school improvement under 2001’s No Child Left Behind. Public schools receiving federal funding must hit annual targets to bring students up to 100 percent academic proficiency in math and reading by the end of the 2013-14 school year.
This year, schools were supposed to reach 66 percent proficiency in math and 64 percent in reading.
Of the 363 schools in Clark County, 224 (61 percent) did not make adequate progress this year. The number of schools failing to show progress increased by nine from last year.
Under No Child Left Behind, schools have to demonstrate achievement in 45 categories, such as graduation rates, socioeconomic status and academic achievement among students broken down by ethnicity, special education status, limited English proficiency and those qualifying for free and reduced-price meals.
Failure to show improvement on any one of the categories results in not making “adequate yearly progress.” This all-or-nothing policy has become a source of frustration for educators, School Board members said.
District officials attributed its lack of adequate progress to higher testing standards in reading, which lowered test scores this year by up to 30 percentage points.
Adequate progress may become more elusive over the next two years, as the School District starts using a higher testing standard in math and a more accurate way to measure graduation rates, which might lower its rates by 15 percent or more.
As standards rise, more and more schools across the country may be classified as failing under No Child Left Behind. Pressure to meet standards has been blamed for high-profile cheating investigations in Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
Many education leaders — including Education Secretary Arne Duncan — have said meeting a 100 percent proficiency goal in math and reading by 2014 is unrealistic, calling for reforms to the law. Some states are beginning to ask for waivers to skirt the goal, pending the law’s reauthorization, and at least three states have vowed to just ignore meeting federal benchmarks.
This month, Nevada will implement a new standard to measure academic progress called the growth model, which will measure each student’s growth instead of focusing on an annual test score. Nevada joins 18 other states using the model, including Colorado, where Superintendent Dwight Jones helped spearhead the model’s development.
“We see the growth model as the wave of the future,” said Pedro Martinez, the deputy superintendent of instruction. “Annual Yearly Progress is a one-year measure, and it’s either you did it, or you didn’t. The growth model is a much more comprehensive measure.”
Makes sense. We are a very low tax state that devotes a large part of the little bit of taxes we collect to education. Result? We measure poorly compared to the other states in the union. Good teachers don't come here because we pay squat. Good teachers that grow up here leave for better pay and respect from the public. It would be nice if the Sun did a story on why we just don't care.
William Good Points,
I am a current Masters of Education student and I am one of those educators that will be leaving the state once my degree is complete. Several reasons lead up to this.
1st Lack of Community Support for any type of educational institution.
2nd Lack of respect by the local government for teachers in general.
3rd Lack of Parental support for both teachers and students.
The community as a whole cries more about taxes then a well educated populace that would end up paying more in taxes. The Government just wants to reduce salaries of teachers and take away benefits. While parents do not have the time nor patience to sit down and help their children learn. Yet all are quick to blame a teacher for the downfall of education. These accusations made against teachers are completely false and misdirected.A teacher is not the sole educator of a student. Without all four parts working to help students they will fail to succeed.
So when a community only has 25% of the support parts in place to make a education successful, then it will fail to attract new families, businesses, and culture. This is the reality in which Las Vegas finds itself.
Unless we as a society start to provide more engineers, mathematicians and doctors the US as a society will continue down it's path of a downward spiral. We no longer continue to strive to do the things that had made this country great. So please parents have your kids put down their video game controllers for an hour to read a book.
actually, the comment about pay is not true. relative to many other districts teacher pay for nevada is roughly the same. look up pay scales in california districts (or anywhere else) and you will see salaries for similarly experienced and educated teachers within a few thousand dollars of each other.
now the comment about respect from the public is quite accurate--not to mention respect from elected officials.
the growth model is a much more realistic measurement and i hope it catches on.
Attention future teachers, you know what teacher salaries are before you get your degrees and teaching credentials. So why do you always complain about the pay after you get hired?
My children went to Green Valley High, with lots of AP students and a few National Merit Scholars.
They have a large number of children in their program that caters to the mentally handicapped. Those kids are expected to pass the proficiency exam. Let's face it, most of those kids are never going to be able to pass that exam. They just don't have the mental ability to do so and no amount of punishing the school district is going to make it happen.
Every year, Green Valley High was "in need of improvement". And guess why they got that designation!
I am not sure what is happening now at Green Valley High, since my children no longer attend, but I could see why No Child Left Behind was stupid when my kids went there.
The No Child Left Behind act is in NEED OF IMPROVEMENT. Not every child can be 100% efficient in some areas. It's unfortunate that we have handicapped children in our lives, but don't punish the school district or the children.
Evidently, you get out of the system what you put in. This state is full of people who don't or can't take responsibility for anything. It's one party or the others fault. It's the teacher's fault. It's my ex's fault. It's the illegals fault. It's never MY fault. Try getting off your dead a** and do something to make a change in Nevada's future.
Noindex (Thomas Delahunty), your attitude is exactly why bright, smart young people are not going into the educational field. We don't pay our teachers enough, I don't care who or what you compare them to, when you look at the hours they put in and the crap they have to put up with.
ginger, many go into teaching for the benefits, retirement, vacation time etc. My wife was a teacher by the way so I know several. The pay is not great, but it's not bad either. I don't think many (a few maybe) go into teaching because it might be a noble thing to do.
In my opinion, the reason we have such poor results is because the teachers union could care less about the kids. It's nearly impossible to fire bad teachers. Also since the Dept. of Education was created in the late 1970's our school money must be laundered through Washington D.C. first, which keeps a portion of it, then returns some back to the district but dictates what must be taught and how.
Those two obstacles must be corrected if we are ever to see real school improvement. Or the teachers and administrators here could just cheat like a lot of other districts do.
"When schoolchildren start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of schoolchildren."
Albert Shanker
Former President United Federation of Teachers
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought they changed that program in Nevada from No Child Left Behind to it's new name: No Child Left A Dime.
Imbeciles like noindex Thomas constitute the loudmouth minority who spew ignorance and, unfortunately, affect like-minded public policymakers. Nobody believes that the handful of teachers you supposedly know would really make such a foolishly cynical confession to you that they only entered teaching for the benefits, retirement, and vacation, nor do they represent the majority of teachers. As an educator for seventeen years, I've known thousands, and most I've worked with have entered the profession for noble purpose of serving their communities. So Thomos, turn off your right-wing talk radio, and change the television channel from FOX, or shut up, and let those qualified to express their opinions do so.
NoIndexThomas,
" Teachers enter the field for the "benefits, retirement and could care less about the kids. You said your wife was a teacher?
I have a question that may provoke some thought? Have you looked at the teacher's in your childs schools. How many are younger than 30?, than 40? than 50? What happens when those teachers leave or retire? Where do the replacements come from? For all of you who think that teaching is so easy, why aren't you applying for teaching jobs? With unemployment the highest in the country, there are plenty of people looking for work. All it requires it a bachelors degree and student teaching.
My comments:
http://www.examiner.com/education-reform...
In order to a school to be rated as making AYP it must show 10% growth from one year to the next. AYP is an all or nothing proposition. If you miss one group, then the school doesn't make AYP. It doesn't matter that all other groups grew 20%, the school still fails.
My concern about linking student performance and evaluations is simply how do you determine who is the more effective teacher. Is a math teacher who has only Advanced Placement classes and all of those students pass the Math Proficiency exam more effective than the teacher who teaches in an alternative high school, raises all the students scores, but not all student pass the Math Proficiency exam. How do you determine teacher effectiveness?
All of the proposals have been lip service to reform. If you truly want to reform education in the state of Nevada, think outside the box. Why is the school year only 180 days, with a three month vacation? No other major industrialized power in the world has such a schedule. That schedule has existed since the 1850's when children provided much of the labor force for the family farm. Why not radically change the calendar, to better match what our competitors are doing. Much of Europe and the Far East has school years of 200-220 days with the longest break being one month. Ask teachers how much re-teaching they have to do to regain the skills lost over the summer. The studies have suggested and the results from around the state seem to support it. Smaller class sizes seem to lead to better student achievement. Look at the Proficiency results from the smaller school districts in the state, such as Eureka County and compare those results to the individual high school results in the larger districts such as Clark and Washoe Counties. Are the results better? Students in those small schools have the same teachers, smaller classes and in part, due to those factors, are more successful. If that model works in the smaller counties, why won't it work in the larger counties? Require skills tests for promotion. The military does it all the time. A soldier has to demonstrate that he has the skills needed to be successful in the next rank. Require the same for students. End social promotion. A student has to demonstrate that they have mastered the skills needed to be successful at the next grade level. That would end social promotion and a teacher would be assured that the new students have a certain skill set and are ready to move on.
We all want the best teachers in our classrooms. How do we recruit, train, mentor and retain teachers. We don't! We have no selection program to get our best and our brightest to become teachers. Look how many of the teachers in your school districts are over 45 years old. Where do the replacements come from? With the low pay, long hours, and lack of support and respect, why would anybody become a teacher? We need to look at other models that are more successful and have demonstrated success in student achievement. In other countries, the national government recruits the best and the brightest to become teachers. There is little, if any, turnover of teachers. They are highly valued members of society, whose professional judgment is respected. They are given the resources to be successful. They are paid as professionals. In the United States there is no effort to recruit the best and the brightest to become teachers. This link is to the Time Magazine Article from the April 11, 2011 edition which describes Finland's approach to education. Finland is currently ranked in the top 10 in the world in Math and Science. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...
An excellent article appeared in the New York Times about "The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries." The article points out that when soldiers don't succeed, we don't blame the soldiers, we blame the leaders and work harder to give soldier more and better resources. When students fail, we blame the teachers, take away resources and make their jobs more difficult. Why? We want our schools and teachers to be successful, but we take steps to make their jobs harder, remove resources, and take actions to force them from the profession. We need to think differently about how we view teachers. They are not the enemy, but the persons most responsible for the future economic survival and growth of Nevada. This is the link to the story. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/opinio...
I don't think teachers complain about the salary as much as the changing of the deal they signed up for. Basically, the deal is you make a little bit now then get a pension and good health care. Now 10 years into my career, they freeze my step advancements, lower the pay with furlough, make me pay more and more into my retirement, while making me pay more and more into my health care.
I signed a contract. The deal I signed up for I have no complaints about. I am making less and less every year I put into the system, not more and more like when I signed up for the deal.
That is my complaint. Give me the deal I signed up for!
Recently, I read in EdWeek, the the Federal wizard of Education, Arne Duncan, frustrated with No Child Left Behind, has offered a rigorous back door option, using College and Career education as way to get around NCLB. The article lacked details, otherwise I would gladly give them. But we all know that NCLB is a failure, and leaves children behind. The problem is, PARENTS simply allow policy to be made without resistance or input from them. Them are really NOT a part of the policy building puzzle, and you would think that they would be!
Enter recent changes with CCSD, the new "Performance Zones," which presumeably will encourage, invite, maybe require student's parent/stakeholder involvement to increase those test scores.
American public school teachers serve many roles during the course of their day. Anyone who comments, should spend a day or more in a classroom, with a teacher before saying a word. A teacher's work continues after school with grading papers, writing evaluations, supporting PTA activities and student body activities, engaging in communications, and professional development. Keep in mind, that these teachers cannot pick out their students, they get whoever walks through the door. Teachers spend a great deal of money out of their own pockets to make sure their students have what they need to succeed and compete towards a "world class education." They give more than 100% each day, because to do otherwise would be settling for less in return of expectations.
Education in the United States of America is under the influence of corporate billionaires. No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are creations of these corporate billionaires. Now, you should also know this: that the very wealthy, powerful, elite billionaires of the USA, are are unfairly influencing public education. To get the inside story on WHO and HOW American education is being controlled, try reading this Dissent article, Got Dough? How Billionaires Rule Our Schools, by Joanne Barkan.
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?...
I get really tired of the district acting as if they are doing me a favor by letting me work there. I am pretty much at the point of calling their bluff. I am going to do my job to the best of my ability and let the chips fall were they may. If they can get someone else to do my job better than I do, they need to do that. They better do it now, though, because once the economy improves, they will be hard pressed to recruit teachers.
"I don't think many (a few maybe) go into teaching because it might be a noble thing to do." Too bad your circle of friends is so mercenary, Noindex. I work with teachers who choose teaching not just as a vocation but an avocation. Email me. We'll meet you for coffee and let you in on our thoughts. You'd be amazed.
Some of you people seem to think teachers are above criticism. They are not. Here are my personal experiences. When my wife worked at an elementary school for several several years in Southern California, I met several teachers who all had one thing in common (besides smoking pot) and that is, all they did was whine. They whined about the kids, the parents, the principal, the district even the damn crossing guard.
Now these teachers were younger most in their 20's and early 30's, but I started to ask them if they are so unhappy why did they go into teaching and why don't they leave teaching? And the answers were always the same, the benefits, pay and vacation time. For the record my wife and I never smoked pot, and we didn't mind that they did, it was always at somebody else's house, but it was funny hearing them literally laughing about red ribbon week while hitting the bong.
Also, my wife left elementary school and taught college for a few years before we relocated here to Las Vegas. She is no longer in the educational field, but she may go back to teaching college part time in the future.
Now you folks can call me all the names you want but the experiences I just shared with you are facts.
I don't know what kind of wacky-jack school your wife worked at, but after 15 years of teaching, I have never known a teacher that smokes pot. Not that they don't exist, but in my VAST exposure to teachers, I have never met them. At least ones that are not so cavalier and willy-nilly about it.
Your facts are anectodotal.
It was an average elementary school in a heavy spanish speaking neighborhood, not that it makes a difference.
I'm 44 years old and I can vividly recall two of my elementary school teachers one junior high and three high school teachers who were very instrumenatl in my K-12 education. Those 6 teachers were wonderful, and I will always have nothing but praise for them. I wish all teachers were like them.
My opinion of today's situation is it's a combination of bad parents, the teacher unions and the bureacrats in D.C. have all contributed to the decline in our education system.
Well, you and I agree then.
Love the wacky-jack phrase!
Afternoon Nancy:
Interesting article you posted.
Noindex, Since you nor your wife teach here in Vegas, I'll forgive your ignorance about Unions in the state. No union protects bad teachers - they protect due process. Principals can't fire teachers, just because they don't like them, or THEY think the teacher is not serving the kids. They must have a reason, and DOCUMENT THE REASON. Many administrators "kick the can" and allow poor teachers to transfer schools, without following up on the disciplinary or remedial paperwork, thus "resetting the clock." Before June, Administrators could remove a poor teacher in as little as 18 months, providing they follow the procedures outlined in the CONTRACT (if it were so bad, the district should not have agreed?), meaning specifically pointing out the deficiencies, providing the remediation steps, providing mentoring and/or coaching, and documenting everything. If after the time, the teacher shows no improvement, then they could be dismissed. Now, courtesy of state law, it will take three years (that's 36 months, or DOUBLE the previous time, for those keeping score) to get rid of a poor teacher.
Contrary to what most people are being lied about, there are very few long term "bad teachers." Most quit either because they are too lazy to deal with the required paperwork, and get tired of being written up, or because many are actually counseled OUT of the business by the very same UNION that some uninformed people claim protect their jobs. Perhaps if people who love criticizing teachers actually spent some time in the classroom DOING THE JOB (and not living it vicariously through a wife or family member), Maybe those of us who actually have done the job (and quite well, if I do say so myself) might value their opinion. But then again, If they actually did, then their attitude would not be so misguided..
cmon: I appreciate the fact that the union does protect due process, but it has always been an unfairly daunting task to fire a poor teacher. The amount of time an administrator must spend documenting is unreasonably difficult. That is why they end up "kicking the can."
You are correct in that some administrators would capriciously fire teachers, but there must be some way to fairly provide due process without creating a system that is so cumbersome that no one will use it.
More importantly, the reasons for the problems in education are not, despite the vitriol spewed by some, the overwhelming presence of bad teachers. There is so much more that goes into a bad system that it would be comical, if it wasn't so crushing, to blame one entity.
"several several years in Southern California" Oh...well, Southern California,that explains a whole lot, Noindex. :)>