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By Paul Takahashi (contact) 
Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 | 4:22 p.m.
Nevada is unlikely to increase its graduation rate to the national average over the next decade, according to a federal report released this month. The Silver State produced 23,493 public high school graduates during the 2010-11 school year, which represented a graduation rate of 62 percent — the lowest in the nation. A new report by the National Center for Education Statistics estimates Nevada's graduation rate won't make the national average anytime soon. It's not for a lack of effort. The number of high school graduates in Nevada surged nearly 31 percent between the 2003-04 and 2008-09 school years, and ...
In all honesty, the graduation rate can be easily fixed.
Most students are poorly informed and receive next to no guidance.
The school needs to engage these students - directly. Help snap them out of their childish corrupt mentality.
So many of our youth are caught up with this fantasy life style and consider school to be "uncool."
A key component is to ensure schools provide labs for students seeking additional help with Math, Science or English.
No kidding, the powers that be want us all fat, dumb, unarmed, and either drunk or high so we can be their slaves, either in prison or serving them and their kids fries or cleaning their luxury suites on the strip. Educate yourself, exercise your mind and body, stop eating, drinking and smoking all this poison they are shoveling at us and fight back.
There are no jobs that pay well BECAUSE you have an education.
There is no middle class jobs.
There is no job security.
There is no job advancement.
There is no good benefits.
There really is NO PERCEIVED GOOD FUTURE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
SO Why get an education?
Most new college graduates DON"T have job.
The problem is greed and until greedy rich people are stopped and begin to pay a good wage and
offer good jobs with job security- THIS PROBLEM WILL NEVER GO AWAY.
Besides, making kids go to college ONLY HIDES UNEMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE.
Comment removed by moderator. Inappropriate
Let's talk about two other key items that the article doesn't:
- How does Nevada compare to the national average when it come to English as a Second Language (ESL) students? I have to imagine that the graduation rates aren't terribly high in these cases.
- Nevada requires passing scores in the proficiency exams, where many states do not have similar requirements. If Nevada didn't have these requirements, how would their graduation rate compare?
My point being just comparing Nevada to the national rate isn't exactly a fair comparison.
But just keep passing those kids on, CCSD. If they aren't prepared for their classes, that's the teacher's problem! Why go to all the trouble and expense of providing instruction at the appropriate level when you can just blame the teacher when a kid at third grade level in an eighth grade math class or a foreign language speaker who's been in the country a couple of years can't pass a standardized test? Dump the problem on the teachers, then blame the teachers! It works! Teachers are great scapegoats! Who cares if the kids graduate, as long as the education bureaucrats keep their jobs and some delusional parents can pretend their kids are functioning at grade level?
And for those who don't yet get how it works, let me enlighten you: many teachers would hold back far more students if they were allowed to. Some who do fail kids have their grades overturned by administrators. The way it works now, many students just fall farther and farther behind because they can't handle the work because they're not prepared for it.
Bob635, you have a point.
Education is the first step out of a life of poverty. If you handicap yourself by dropping out at 16 you will handicap yourself for life. Stay in school, graduate and go to trade school if you can't or don't want to go to college for 4 years.
These abysmal rates are more about parenting and upbringing than they are about the school system.
And why again are we paying teachers more than Arizona? Arizona gets GRADUATES who can read and write for $1,000 per student per year LESS and they have very similar demographics to Nevada. STOP over-funding K-12 and demand performance. We know there are too many administrators falling all over each other and coming up with policies that don't work. LEGISLATURE: End CSR and allow the SD's to determine class sizes--stop short-loading K-4 while high school class sizes suffer. Sure Kindergarten should be smaller class size. But let grades 1-4 creep up in numbers--might even make student transition into middle school less of an issue.
Brian: Let's use some logic here. Arizona has at least as much ELL as Nevada yet Arizona GETS RESULTS for mega-millions less than we spend on K-12.
this is exactly why repeal of all mandatory education statutes in nevada need to happen immediately.
education is pathetically poor in nevada and it will not ever get better unless competition in schooling is made available to parents
there are NO federal education requirements regarding mandatory education - all laws on education are at the state level.
obama-ites and their communist cohorts have no say so other than tying all the crummy education to federal greenbacks - which are going to be drastically cut anyhow. the united states owes over $16 Trillion in debt and these horrid pie in the sky educratic so called entitlements are on their way out, too.
educrats have NO competition - a monopoly. students are schooled in social flimflam and not english, math, science, geography and are taught under a communistic bureaucratic system that was hatched by the great society touchy feely druggie types way back in the 1960's.
school choice and vouchers and charter schools and competition and firing incompetent tenured educrats who do nothing but polish a chair with their backside - along with repeal of all mandatory state education statutes - gets education back moving in the right direction.
why would anyone in their right mind turn their children over to the state to be brainwashed? you have to be pro-communist to do just that.
when school choice, vouchers, charter schools are the norm - instead of tax supported daycare that only gives out welfare breakfast and lunch, kickball at recess, and afterschool latchkey babysitting - then and only then will education improve and will tax payers stop getting fleeced for abysmal results.
Great posts, Commenters!
We need to narrow down the reasons as to why children are NOT performing in our schools. Projections are that many of these non-English speaking families are moving to Nevada to escape what they view as oppressive laws and policies in other states. This will NOT help Nevada make any positive graduation gains. Precious little, if anything is being done to address children coming into our public schools prepared and well supported at the home/family levels. Now we have "Turnaround Schools" towards attempting to stem the negative tide that hinders children from graduation, but it is NOT comprehensive, nor preventative.
Again, preventive medicine for our ailing, low performing schools has to include treatment at the root, "the very heart of the problem for low performing schools is the involvement and active participation factor of parents of low performing students. We continue to do everything BUT address this need with a comprehensive program to route both parent and their low performing child for focused, intensive help." Every good gardener knows that you must attack the roots of problem weeds in order to erradicate the problem. To see positive change, we must be will to go there (and do that!).
Currently, most schools are top heavy, increasingly, the teachers having to do more with less. The last round of "school improvements" went towards hiring Learning/Instructional Strategists and Coaches, who are being used by district Principals to do administrative tasks instead of being available to help in the needy classrooms. So teachers wonder, "Where are they, these Coaches and Learning/Instructional Strategists (who are paid MORE and are supposed to be there at the school to help/support them, yet are most always out attending trainings and meetings)?" That is the reality of how it is all working out so far. Will the Taxpayers be satisfied with this once they learn of it?
We need students coming to school ready to learn, having a goal/purpose to work towards, and the cooperation and support of their home family in doing so. Until that happens, little else CAN happen. The analogy is leading a horse to water, but you cannot MAKE him drink. So it is with our students. The school district cannot continue to cut school psychologists and counselors, who are vital in servicing students. Instead of another vice pricipal, let's assure the school is receiving adequate support in these areas (and please don't use these professionals to perform non-related duties).
There has to be a balance in the use of the district's human resources. Any imbalance only creates deficiencies in needed and necessary services for our students.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
The grammatical error in the caption ("The boy line up backstage...") is a rather telling irony.
The abysmal graduation rate reflects the utter disdain shown by the actions of this community in regards to the education of its youth. There is simply no reason for the most powerful economic actors in this state to put their money on the line to improve the quality of public education, and as yet the libertarian streak in our politics shows no sign of abating, so I see little reason for optimism.
A link to the report itself would be nice, moreover.