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Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Nevada’s education system has been rated among the worst in the nation. In the past year alone, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s “Kids Count” report ranked Nevada last, a legislative report put the state at 48th and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave the state’s schools an F. Nevadans have heard this before over the years from a variety of sources, including MSNBC, which ranked the state 50th in an extensive report last year, or Parenting magazine, which labeled Las Vegas the worst city in the country for education. Clark County School District Superintendent Dwight Jones bristles at talk about ...
I can rewrite this entire editorial in one short sentence: "Raise taxes, because more money for the teachers will make things much, much, much better."
At least you have to admire the Sun's persistence. They keep coming back with the same bogus stance, regardless of how much evidence there is that higher spending doesn't equal better results in the classroom.
Sorry, Sun, but the CCSD won't be getting another dime from me, no matter how often you try to stick your hand deeper into our pockets.
Money available and spent is the great equalizer for education. But it's not the only one and/or the most important one. When Nevada ranks at the bottom of the heap year after year in education, it's for more than money reasons.
CarmineD
Thank goodness for red state Mississippi and its dumbed down, government-hating citizens. At least Nevada hasn't sunk to that third world level yet ... has it?
Carmine,
You are completely wrong. There is NO reason other than lack of funding that is causing Nevada's education system to rank at the bottom every single year. In fact, I dare you to actually cite comprehensive research to prove your selfish political ideology based opinion.
Nevada has spent 30 years shifting around an atrophied funding stream to try every "low cost or free" flavor of the week "reform" & "accountability" measure. In all that time they have refused to do the one thing that matters. Adequately fund education.
Sebring,
If is all about funding why do over 50% of the kids make it through, pass the tests and graduate?
If the failing kids would do the same thing the passing kids do chances are they would pass also.
Have you raised kids that went to CCSD schools? Did they pass and graduate?
@judgesmales: Where in this editorial is there any mention of increasing teachers' salaries? While it's true that teachers are not pleased by the arbitrator's recent decision to allow the CCSD to ignore its longstanding, contractual agreement to reward teachers for continuing education, after many teachers spent thousands of dollars to earn the extra university credits, most teachers (and our union) have been willing to forego increased pay on the salary schedule, especially in light of the poor economy that has reduced tax revenue. Furthermore, were you to spend any time in our schools, you would see that teachers are working harder than ever before to meet the increased demand for accountability.
Reduced revenue has resulted in fewer teaching positions and more students in every classroom, decreasing the likelihood that teachers will be able to meet the individual needs of all students. For a teacher, this is incredibly frustrating! We certainly don't choose to become teachers because we expect to get rich. We care about kids, and we want them to succeed, but legislative and administrative decisions that affect the quality of Nevada's schools are quickly moving our public school system to the breaking point. Meanwhile, we have a superintendent and seven school board trustees in Clark County who seem to believe that playing games with teachers' health insurance and continually adding new, high-dollar administrative positions while diverting scarce resources from the classroom and eliminating support specialists who work directly in our schools to provide valuable support to teachers is the answer to improving our schools. They're wrong, and so are you!
First, there are 4 ways to rank a district or states education funding.
HIGH achievement/HIGH Funding
HIGH achievement/LOW funding
LOW achievement/HIGH funding
LOW achievement/LOW funding.
The optimal is to get the best results with the least money HIGH achievement/LOW funding. That formula is different for each state and each district.
CCSD is in the LOW/LOW. And we have been for a long time. It's the old adage, doing the same thing and expecting different results.
One of the districts I grew up in in Massachusetts, has a 95% graduation rate with 88% of those attending a 4 year university. The per pupil expenditure from the state is $13,361 in Massachusetts. The average student teacher ratio is 14/1. The state considers it HIGH/LOW. Meaning for right now, they found the optimal funding for their high achievement.
Nevada per pupil is $6,809 from the state with a graduation rate hovering around 65% and a average student teacher ratio of 24/1. The public can continue to say we fund high, but if the achievement isn't reflective of that, it's not true.
Class size does matter. Parent involvement does matter. Student behavior does matter. Money does matter. But it's not 1 or the other, it's a combination of them all.
Students fail for a number of reasons. There is no cut and dry "try harder". It needs to be try different.
Yes, my own children go to CCSD, and yes my son will graduate this year. He has had great teachers and crappy teachers. The difference is when he had a crappy teacher, I supplemented his learning. The difference is I provide my children the background knowledge and vocabulary necessary to be successful in school. They were ready to enter kindergarten.
77% of students entering Kinder in CCSD last year could not recognize all their uppercase letters. 88% couldn't recognize their lowercase, and 97% couldn't identify letter sounds.
And yet, when we calculate the percentage of students who start Kindergarten in CCSD and go on to graduate from CCSD, we rank in the top 10 in the nation.
It's time to try different. We have been short changing our kids (pun intended) for far too long. If we can graduate 66% of our students with $6,000, imagine what we can do with 10,000 or 13,000...We need to fund our education at the student need level.
early childhood education produces no long term education gains and spending more money does not produce greater results.
Why would it when you have a top down controlled uncompetitive government monopoly, where bad teachers aren't fired and innovation and differentiation is discouraged?
What we need is school choice. All parents to choose any public or private school and let the money follow that student. For private schools we should allow parents to get a tax credit for the private school tuition and allow other people to get a tax credit for donations so low-income and special needs children get scholarships to attend private schools.
Anyone who thinks we need to spend more money needs to say how much they need to do the job right. Because in a few years will we surpass that amount and little will have changed.
You will notice the "spend more crowd" is run by intellectual cowards... they will never say how much is needed, they only say MORE. They expect everyone else to pay more money and NOT hold them accountable for decades of failure.
We need universal school choice, we need to fire bad teachers, we need to let public schools operate as independent franchises not units of the Soviet style CCSD (top down command control).
I'm weary of all the self-serving talk about vouchers and tax credits for parents who choose to put their kids in a private school. If you want to put your child in a private school, do so at your own expense. I have no interest in having my tax dollars subsidize welfare payments to people who would choose to divert scarce resources intended to provide good schools for ALL children into the bank accounts of private entities.
Gibbons, what you're advocating would create a holy mess. Who is going to oversee all of these schools, and who is going to pay those people to oversee them? Schools will open, close, go bankrupt - there will be a massive lack of stability. Do you think parents will send their kids to the best school, or to the school with the most fun activities? I can pretty much answer that for you, if you don't know. What we need is for undisciplined kids to be out of the classrooms without having lawsuits filed against the teacher or school.
Gee, Patrick, right after I wrote that I went to the RJ site and immediately found this. Can you read it, or are you too blinded by your ideology? This is going to go on and on and on, and only part of them will be found out in any kind of timely manner. The motive for education needs to be learning, not money.
Audit finds suspicious spending at Quest Academy
By Trevon Milliard
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: Feb. 24, 2013 | 2:21 a.m.
Quest Academy has cleaned house after substantiating complaints of corruption by those at the charter school's helm, but the punishment could continue for recently fired Principal Connie Jordan.
Sorry, here's the web page:
http://www.lvrj.com/news/audit-finds-sus...
PART 1 OF 2
One of the greatest investments Nevada Lawmakers could impose, is by putting ENFORCEMENT TEETH in the yearly administered school document that Nevada Taxpayers pay for, the infamous PARENT/TEACHER/STUDENT INVOLVEMENT ACCORD. Last Nevada Legislative Session, Lawmakers made school administrators and teachers accountable by mandating a new evaluation. But they fell short, way short, by NOT addressing the most important part of the equation: making accountable the very students and parents regarding their behaviors, performance, and interaction with the school system that MUST serve them. IF we want to see school improvement, we must have accountability on ALL parties parts, including the students and their parent(s)/caregiver(s).
This article's editor rightfully noted, "Utah doesn't deal with the level of special needs, such as the percentage of English language learners, or the pressures put on schools by the lack of a strong social safety net."
The "social safety net" is the greatest factor on whether or not a child thrives, has academic and social success. An integral part of that safety net originates with the child's family, the core being the parental figure. Encompassing that core are the many who interact and support the family and child(ren), as other family members, friends, clubs, churches, and organizations.
Public schools can not, by law, pick and choose who is served, they must enroll any who comes to their doorstep (expelled from district is the exception). But what happens when such individuals lack any interest in their own education (let alone those surrounding them in a classroom)? The old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink," comes to mind. What is UNfair, is to hold educators also accountable when they have such individuals in the mix. These detractors must be dealt with on a few levels.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
Patrick R Gibbons are you still a staff member on education policy for NPRI?
PART 2 OF 2 continued-
First, identify those who are not actively involved with their education. Once the educational providers have proven attempts to redirect and set on course such individual students and their parent/caregiver, remove the nonresponsive individual from the list that teachers, administrators student from the regular classroom and school which has been affected. Don't let test scores of such individual students count against the school and its educators.
It would serve the community of learners that want to learn well, to place educational detractors into a separate classroom or facility (facility being the better choice).
We already have a way to ENforce, just no legal footing to do so. Every day, schools have truant officers, attendance clerks, school police, school counselors, and more, wanting, ready, but UNable to do a single thing.
Why? Their hands are TIED!!! So what's the holdup? Nevada Lawmakers having the guts to take a stand with parent(s) and caregiver(s) in putting ENFORCEMENT TEETH in that taxpayer funded, yearly administered ACCORD!
TAXPAYER MONEY is being wasted each and every day of the school year until Nevada Lawmakers have the courage to address student and parent/caregiver accountability in the school/educator accountability equation.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
Once again, Mr. Gibbons blathers on with his rebutted "studies" and general lack of knowledge about anything that goes on in today's classrooms. He again shills for his NPRI masters, about how things would be so much better if public welfare were given to the rich in the form of vouchers, so they can further keep their kids away from "those kind." Again, he shows a complete and utter lack of reality that let him to be publicly smacked down during the last legislative hearings.
As long as students and parents are not held accountable for their education, as long as they are told snd sold on the idea that "it's not your fault, it's those greedy teachers, as long as people are willing to rail against teachers' salaries on these forums, yet not pose ONE SINGLE WORD, when the district votes to spend a quarter million dollars on one consultant, and God knows how much on a bunch of other snake oil salespeople, This district will continue to make small gains and then stagnate for years.
And to you, Mr. Gibbons, I challenge you to visit my school, walk through the classrooms and observe, then tell me what teachers you feel are not being innovative, fresh, and efficient in their teaching. Recently an administrator observed several schools in our area and came to a dramatic conclusion: that teachers are working TOO hard, and maybe the students should get off their butts and take an active role in their own education.. That administrator is no longer their, because the parents whined....
In order to improve education in Nevada, a great many things are necessary, but first and foremost is a culture shift in the state that places a premium on education. The citizens of the state must change the mindset and cultural values about education to recognize that it is important and vital to the economic growth and development of the state. We have to move past the belief from years ago that "I can quit school, go to work as (fill in the blank) on the strip and make bank. I don't need an education." This lack of emphasis on education has allowed our elected leaders to kick the can down the road and not reform the tax structure, and more importantly the funding structure for both K-12 and higher education to reflect that importance. We have been stuck for way too long with the rhetoric of "no new taxes" no matter what. The mantra of "low taxes and businesses will come" has proven to be an unacknowledged failure for years. The political, economic, and cultural leaders of this state have failed in their duties to serve the people of the Nevada and more importantly the children of our state. A story appeared about 7 students in Nevada winning a National Merit Scholarship. The bad news, only one of the 7 was going to stay in state, and given the past history the others will probably never return. That is a brain drain that can never be made up.
The legislature, the governor, and the citizens of Nevada have been sold a bill of goods about education reform. The legislature bought the idea of changing teacher evaluations is "education reform". The citizens of Nevada bought the idea that the legislature was "reforming education" by changing seniority as the sole criteria for retaining teachers. The public was sold a bill of goods that everything that was wrong with education was the teacher's fault. If you get rid of the "bad teachers", the results will improve. The only flaw with that argument is that a means already exists in the contracts to get rid of "bad teachers". It required administrators to do their job, document properly and get rid of the "bad teacher." The only problem was that the "reformers" felt that a "bad teacher" was the older, more experienced, and the more expensive teacher. The argument was that a younger, more energetic teacher, with less experience, and much less expensive could replace the older teacher. In fact, you could get two teachers for the price of one. The only problem is nobody can precisely define what a "bad teacher" looks like.
The parents of the students in Nevada have also contributed to the crisis in education. Many parents, for whatever reason, aren't taking an active interest in their child's education. Students aren't told that education is important, or asked about school and what they learned that day. Parents use the TV as a baby-sitter during those crucial early childhood years that set the table for academic success later. Parents aren't checking the homework assigned to their children or requiring it be done before the computer, X-box, etc. is used, and send a horrible message about the importance of school when they call or text their students during school hours, and get upset when the student doesn't answer because the district policy says the use of electronic devices during school hours is not allowed.
Some of the responsibility for the state of education in Nevada rests with the students as well. They attend school, but don't apply themselves and think that just because they show up, they should pass and get a diploma. The idea of do working or solving a problem that requires more than two steps is "too much work". It is much easier to copy the answer and not understand why the answer is the way it is. There is no incentive to pass the High School Proficiency Exams. The district policy allows a student to walk across the stage at graduation, even if they have not passed those exams. Parents don't understand the difference between a diploma and a certificate of attendance. During one of the "Reclaim your future" drives to get kids back to school, one administrator went into a home and saw a certificate of attendance hanging in a place of honor. Many students, even the ones from economically disadvantaged homes have I-phones, designer shoes and clothes. They have an attitude that they should be given everything, and don't have to work to get ahead.
The last group that shares part of the blame is the professional educators in Nevada. We have not stood up for what we know is the best practice. We have allowed our voices to be gradually stilled and become content with the status quo. We have accepted the new and additional requirements that don't help students learn. We have continued to make do with less and less. We have become comfortable with the way things are and don't feel that one voice can make a difference. We have not insisted that we be treated and valued as any other professional member of the community. We have accepted the statements that "we work part time, and don't have a real job", and not insisted that those statements are not true. We have accepted the premise that we don't have an important role in society, and don't make a valuable contribution to the community.
There is more than enough blame to share, the real issue is how do we as residents of Nevada change the current situation, and move things forward, giving our children an education that will qualify them for the jobs of the 21st Century.
The tax structure and the funding of schools MUST be changed to give schools the resources they need to fully implement the changes in Common Core State Standards. Teachers need to be given the ability to teach what students need to know, and to insure that students are ready to learn the material in the next grade before they are promoted. Teachers need to be held accountable for the results their students achieve, but students need to be held accountable as well.
If you are going to institute true education reform, why do we have a school calendar that is the same as we had over a hundred years ago? No other industrialized country in the world gives their students three months off during the summer. Many countries have a longer school year, shorter breaks, and a longer school day. In many countries, students are tracked into several paths depending on their ability and skills. That may be something that Nevada needs to look at in order to develop a more diversified work force.
The bottom line is that all of the stake holders, parents, teachers, administrators, students, political and social leaders need to stop playing the blame game. Instead, we need to have intelligent, realistic conversations about the goals that we want to have for education in Nevada. We need to roll up our sleeves, put down the non-productive rhetoric, and begin to talk about what we see as the future of education in Nevada. The work is too important. Failure is NOT an option
Negative return on investment. NO MORE money. Gonna have to improve a lot to keep funding as high as it already is.
What about that Henderson school with exemplary results? Good results at this level of funding. I favor school choice. I hesitate to use tax revenue but the kids get so little from a broken public K-12. Parochial schools with 60-plus students per class get better results that public K-12. Charter schools and online K-12 especially for those who have been bullied or have developmental problems. National media is saying that the projected spending in American schools exceeds the per pupil cost anywhere and everywhere else, including Switzerland. American public schools don't produce anything approaching many other schools. Longer school days, longer school years--like other nations. Get the basics. If they can't read by 3rd grade, hold them back--and I've been saying this for years. If they can't perform at grade level, hold them back. Enough of trying to shift the blame to administrators, other teachers, parents....always was and always will be many students without caring parents--and we managed to teach those kids to read and write--at least we did in the 60's, 70's, 80's.
@Roslenda. Please tell me what Catholic School in Las Vegas has a class size of 60 plus. None of the web sites show a class size that big.
Roslenda, please get your facts straight. Concerns about student achievement in the 60's, 70's, and 80's are what led to the infamous government report, "A Nation at Risk," released in 1986 when Reagan was President. The report notes that average SAT scores dropped "over 50 points" in the verbal section and "nearly 40 points" in the mathematics section during the period 1963-1980. If this is the case, your relentless attacks on public schools, with constant inferences to your apparent notion that the problem is caused by today's "bad" teachers and throwing good money after bad simply doesn't hold up under scrutiny. In fact, Mr. Anderson, you really don't know what you're talking about, and I suspect that in reality, you simply don't want to pay more taxes... for any reason!
Go back and read Star's comments. She has provided some accurate reasons why our students are not doing as well in school as we'd like. However, boosting student achievement is even more complex than she suggests. Our nation has continued to experience tremendous social and demographic shifts since the 1950's, and we've done little to nothing to provide the resources our schools need to contend with the issues we face. Until we do, I fear the quality of education in this nation will continue to decline.
As for your assertion that Parochial schools are doing better with classes of 60-plus students, even if this were true, which I seriously doubt (you've failed to reference any data to support your claim), do you suppose such schools are forced to tolerate disruptive students? You're talking about students whose parents have a vested financial interest in their children's education, and poor behavior and unacceptable academic achievement is generally not an option for their children. It's quite a different story in our public schools, where we're lucky if we get a third of our students' parents to show up for an open house or parent-teacher conferences. When they do show up at school, it's too often because an administrator has issued a "required parent conference" notice, and the student cannot return to school until the conference is held. Sadly, thanks to the failing school rhetoric from the corporate educrats who hope to profit at taxpayers' expense, the media, and negative drumbeaters like you, parents are buying into the lies. As a result, I fear, REAL school improvement will never occur.
In a few years, I suspect you'll be posting comments about how private schools are stealing your tax dollars and giving you an inadequate return on your taxpayer investment.
The primary differences between public schools and private/charter/alternatives are that the latter have far more effective and efficient management structures and they have far more selective admissions policies. So long as the knowledge industry of education is managed on an antiquated industrial model it will continue to produce poor results.
Brad, in all cases, the credits are lower than the cost of a public education. This means there are fewer students in public schools but more money per student.
That said why should people be forced to pay for public schools when they want to have their children attend private schools?
C'mon, your ignorance is amusing, but you should make actual counter points with citations before declaring victory. I've also been working with a different organization for the last two years. ...and I was never smacked down at the legislature lol... One stupefied that so many people think teacher training means people can actually teach...
"Lawmakers need to confront reality--the state doesn't spend enough on education". That statement is hilarious, because lawmakers have confronted reality and the reality is that they have to balance the budget and education is the easiest place to cut. Pensions for cops, firemen, (and teachers) are protected by law. In the series "degrees of Debt" in the NY Times one young lawmaker who has to work part time at a restaurant to pay her student loans knows this and she and her fellow lawmakers aren't afraid to make cuts to education. I wouldn't be afraid to either.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/busine...
@Patrick. So I guess the State legislature and the Nevada Department of Education are full of "stupified people" since they require an education degree to get a license to teach. How did your teaching experience go? Only lasted a year right?
There seems to be a lot of consensus from the usual suspects that if we just threw more money at the problem of public education, we would see better results.
OK. How much money is going to be enough, and what is going to be the measure of success? Can we expect Iowa or New Hampshire type results? Where is the money going to go? Salaries? From what I read, the unions are saying they need higher pay for better results... are they holding back on us?
This scam is getting old. The answer is always "more money". And when that doesn't work, they response is "it wasn't enough money. We need more money." Repeat ad infinitum and ad nauseum.
How about REALLY thinking outside the box? How about we abolish the union and fire the teachers. We lease the schools out to private pay, professional teachers consortiums (Let the teachers be their own bosses. Let them invest in themselves. Let THEM be the "Evil Administrators" for a change.) The taxpayer keeps and maintains the schools. The current paradigm is irretrievably broken. But then, it was set up to be a failure. See below.
"We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons, a very much larger class of necessity in every society, to forgo the privilege of a liberal education and fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks." -- Woodrow Wilson, "The Education President"
Brad, do some research and get the facts. Public K-12 cannot deteriorate much more--we're at the bottom in results but pay more than everybody else. In the 60's, 70's we got many more graduates who can read and write. Sure, the Teacher/Administrator's unions were pushing agenda even back then and cried for more money, more money, more money. We gave you more but we didn't get anything for it.
Uncle and pals: The Legislature CAN cut the accruing factor for PERS pensions. It was 2.5% of high 3 year compensation and then they upped it to 2.67%. Believe they trimmed part of it to 2.6% or so. They can trim some more. It would be difficult to cut benefits already ACCRUED but there is no reason to not fix the actuarial math on accruing pensions. AND, benefits such as health care premiums can also be trimmed--although the STATE (not cities, counties, school districts) has made strides with CONSUMER-DRIVEN health care and lowered costs mucho much.
Mr. Gibbons sounds serious here. And, not just because we seem to agree that vouchers and school choice are necessities. Me, because students have little chance in public K-12 AND the costs come down. We need to reassess our spending priorities and consider, for a change, the needs of people other than students and custodial parents. We have seniors with needs. We have single adults and couples without young kids who have lost homes, been displaced out of jobs, have no safety net beyond $20 a month in EBT food stamps. And the media has mentioned, once again, that we do little to nothing for adults with mental health issues. Waiting lists at DHHS since we don't budget well--24/7 care for a few or try something different for many more people--like residential dorms for child-free adults in transition.
We have a toxic mix of people in the Las Vegas valley. We have families with great need, and families that don't care, mixed with families that have the resources to provide only themselves supplemental or replacement services, families that can't help any more, think they are helping enough, or don't want to help.
Just more money won't help. A cultural change is needed. Based on the social and economic character of this valley, I don't see that happening.
As long as people of all descriptions move here just because Las Vegas can offer them low-cost basic services and/or a better chance to obtain wealth than where they came from, they will never give back to this community. They did not move here to change this community and as long as they don't have to contribute too much, they will stay.
Most of the young professionals I see move here know that it is a temporary thing. They didn't move here to raise a family. They moved here because they needed to begin their career somewhere, and needed to pay off student loans. And lets face it... if you are young and you want to have fun, what is more fun than Vegas? (Let us not confuse fun with safe, however)
But, the educated don't stay long. As such, they really don't care about the long term well-being of the Valley. And why should they? Vegas isn't family friendly. It is a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah. The schools are terrible, and it has nothing to do with money. It is the culture. It is violent, and it is unsavory. The only people who send their kids to public schools are those who don't care enough to send their kids to private schools. (Not having the money isn't an excuse. Your vote counts.)
If you care about education, you have to change the paradigm.
If you care about tweaking the status quo, do nothing. Or throw more money at the problem. It won't matter.
CCSD is the problem, not the solution. It's a 19th century model trying to adapt to a 21st century world. Until CCSD changes, there's no amount of money it could be given that will make it any more effective than it already is.
Our problems are not unique. We face the same problems every big multi-cultural city school district faces, in this country as well as several others, and our failure has less to do with the community than with a lack of leadership at the local, state and national levels.
"C'mon, your ignorance is amusing, but you should make actual counter points with citations before declaring victory"
It's interesting that you claim my ignorance, but have not taken the opportunity to set me straight. I seems you are out of practice twisting reality to fit your narrow view of things. Perhaps it's because you realise that I'm right about being here in the trenches, while you sit outside and pontificate your lack of understanding what really goes on in the schools. So I will pose three simple questions, that even you should be able to answer. They are simple yes or no questions (even though you are afraid to answer my simple questions, as you proved so two years ago...):
1. Are you currently or within the last two school years (2010-11 and 2011-12) been employed by CCSD or any other state school district, as a licensed, highly-qualified teacher, and been assigned your own class or classes?
2. Do you believe that public money should be taken from the school budget, in the form of vouchers, and given to private school, without those schools being subject to the same state regulations as public schools?
3. Are you now or have you ever been employed by any organization, who has or does engage in the process of changing policy or law, in order to promote "school choice," "parent trigger laws," or increasing the number of private and charter schools in Nevada?
No about the beating you took over at the Grant Sawyer biulding: When the people sitting behind you are laughing at you (myself included), because madams Loop and Kirkpatrick keep asking you easy questions, and having to stop you when you go back to your script, instead of answering their questions; When you are made to look like a blithering fool in front of about 300 people at the Grant Saywer building, and well as countless thousands via the internet; when there are articles and blogs, describing how unprepared and ineffective you were; when you have been immortalized on the internet through three different radio shows, where people emailed and called in to mock and laugh at you specifically - I think most sane people in this or any other realm of reality (other than yours, apparently)could fairly call what happened to you a smackdown...
Tanker: I'm a few years out of Dpt of Education but last I heard you do NOT need a degree to become a licensed teacher in Nevada. CCSD MAY have requirements. Almost all NV SD's have substitute teachers that do NOT have degrees. There have been instances where SD's have had "clerks" teach for the duration of the "regular" teacher's pregnancy leave.
Mr. Collins: I have been involved in State agency budget building and have drafted legislation. Not expert by any means but I've been there. If there is anything I can answer, please contact me via LVSun email. Love the commentary on giggling behind easy questions and presentations.
@Roslenda. This is from the Nevada Department of Education web site on basic requirements to be a teacher in Nevada.
Each teacher or other educational employee who is required to hold a license is responsible for securing, maintaining and renewing his license (NAC 391.025).
All licenses for teachers and other educational personnel are granted by the Superintendent of Public Instruction who may issue a license to a qualified person as established by regulations adopted by the Commission on Professional Standards in Education.
The following basic qualifications apply to all persons requesting licensing in the State of Nevada:
An applicant must be a citizen of the United States or be a lawful permanent resident of the United States.
Degree(s) and credits for courses must have been earned from a regionally accredited college or university.
Foreign transcripts must be accompanied by an original a course-by-course and degree equivalency evaluation done by an approved evaluator service before application for licensure is made. (Acceptance of Foreign Transcripts)
A license is issued based on the evaluation of the applicant's official transcripts.
An applicant must have completed the appropriate number of semester credits of student teaching to qualify for a teaching license. If you have not completed student teaching, full-time contracted teaching experience (five (5) class periods per day, 180 school days per year, at the appropriate grade level) may be used to meet the requirement. Unless otherwise specified, three (3) years experience is required and must be verified on the appropriate form.
This is the link.
http://nvteachers.doe.nv.gov/BasicQualif...
This is from website for licensure as a Substitute Teachers.
The State of Nevada requires a minimum of 60 semester credits, or an associate's degree or higher degree earned through a regionally accredited college/university, to be eligible for a K-12 special license with a substitute endorsement. The applicant for a substitute teaching license should submit an application packet including the Initial Licensure Application Form, Child Support Form, Fingerprinting Authorization Form, official transcripts, two FD-258 blue and white fingerprint cards, and a $161.00 fee (cashier's check or money orders only). The license will be issued for a three-year period with the following provisions: Nevada School Law, Nevada Constitution, U.S. Constitution, Fingerprint Background Check, and Praxis I Testing. The license may be renewed if all these provisions are cleared by the date of expiration listed on the license.
http://nvteachers.doe.nv.gov/SubstituteT...
These are the requirements to be a substitute teacher for CCSD.
Substitute Qualification Criteria and General Information
Minimum requirements for being a Substitute Teacher
1.Bachelor's Degree or:
2.The State of Nevada requires that a holder of a substitute license has a minimum of 60 semester credits of overall college/university level course work. Quarter units can be multiplied by 2/3 for equivalent semester credits.
Refer to the Nevada Department of Education. licensing requirements for becoming a substitute teacher.
Official transcripts must be submitted to Substitute Services at the time of application. Copies will be made and originals returned at your request.
This is a link.
http://ccsd.net/employees/prospective/ap...
Helloooo , education funding in this state has always taken a back seat to other programs. And yet the crooks up in Carson City will not raise the gambling tax which could really help with funding problems. Oops I didn't mean to call em crooks really I didn't.
People who think vouchers are a good idea obviously have no idea how school funding works. Do you really think it costs the same to educate every student? It costs far more to educate a special needs student than it does a college bound student. It costs more to teach low achieving students than high achieving ones.
Who exactly do you think would use the vouchers? Would private schools want low achieving/ special Ed students that cost a ton of money to educate (some special Ed students cost up to $100,000 a year to educate!)? Of course not. That's reality.
Having been in the business world before going into the teaching profession, and having had my children in private school at one time (and ME paying for it), it would seem that the FAIR way to deal with the controversy of vouchers, is to allow parents who desire to educate their child at a private school, get a voucher from their neighborhood school in the amount that school spends per student, so the parent can apply such voucher to the costs of schooling at a private school. Most all private schools have strict enrollment standards and participation policies, and many will have higher fees as well. The excess in fee would have to be covered by the parent (so shop wisely).
Commenter Jon Zetzman does raise a valid point on the exorbinent costs to educate Special Ed and low achieving students. Precious few private schools go there.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
State is investing every year an earmark of budget to enact way they thought makes best interest for all. A qualitative and quantitative season seldom meets the same prognostication and then state is a bit late. Polymorphous agenda does not greet those who want to change all the next minutes, nor does it leave much air to your desk.
It's clear education when not met with social aim to invest their inspiration already with the background of months of delegation work has returned where it had started.
Money should be enacted wisely. Not just reduced.