Nevada's Education System In Complete Disarray

Legislature Slow In Answering Problem -- This Will Take Much More Than Money

by Johnny Gunn

National education groups continue to place Nevada's education system at or near the bottom in just about every category.  There are more than 200 schools below the standards set by the No Child Left Behind program, and the legislature appears to be sitting on their collective thumbs, unsure what to do. This problem will take much more than simply infusing more money into a bottomless pit.

Hearings have been held on the $1.8 billion Distributive School Account, the money that funds K-12 education, but little else has taken place in Carson City. Even the governor has been quiet, not trying to prod the Legislature into some kind of action. In the meantime, national group after national group continue to berate the Nevada Education System.

The latest report, this by a group known as Achieve, virtually condemns the Nevada Education System from K-12, showing that far too many children don't graduate from high school, can't enroll in college without vast amounts of make up work, and then don't graduate anyway.

On top of that is a new report issued by National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) dealing with athletes in UNR and UNLV programs. Although not entirely based on academic matters, there is enough there to make one wonder how well our university students are doing compared to those in other states.

Teachers say they are overwhelmed by standards that can't be met, by school districts heavy in administration, and by a lack of classroom materials. Like books. In some districts, according to one well placed individual, there are more administrators than there are teachers. It must be pointed out that school systems are part of government bureaucracy, and are rigid in their thinking. Bureaucracy thrives on being top heavy.

Too often, the incentives designed to motivate teachers don't have much to do with having the finest scholars in their classrooms, but the carrot being offered is a bump upstairs into the bureaucracy of administration. Incentives to keep teachers in the classrooms make more sense than creating one more level of administration.

The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education issued a report in 2004 in which Nevada's education system was at the very bottom nationally. According to the report, the state received a D in its K-12 programs to prepare students for higher education. Those figures were dramatically reinforced by the numbers released by Achieve.

Achieve was put together by the National Governor's Association and reflects how Nevada stands up in comparison with national levels of education. See the accompanying full report in pdf form. While the National Center for Public Policy called Nevada's preparation a D, Achieve comes right out with the numbers. Nationally 68 percent of those who begin high school graduate and 40 percent of those go on to higher education immediately. In Nevada only 62 percent graduate and 27 percent go on to higher education.

Governor Kenny Guinn ran for election as the "education candidate," and during his time in office, he has created the Millennium Scholarship Program, using funds from the national tobacco settlement. Those funds are drying up and the current legislature is working to infuse the program with more money. There are those who say the program isn't based on need, but rather is available to anyone with a high enough grade point average.

The National Center for Public Policy gave the state an F because there isn't a need based program for Nevadans to be able to get a higher education. The Millennium program offers a $10,000 grant that is merit based.

Nationally 59 percent of young adults have some higher education while in Nevada that figure is 49 percent. Of those figures, 28 percent nationally have achieved a bachelor's degree or higher, and in Nevada, only 17 percent have.

The Nevada Department of Education says in 2003-2004 there are 225 schools in the state that are below the standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. That is up from the 2002-2003 figure of 194 schools below federal standards. The department says that 65 Nevada schools are on what's called the watch list. Schools are judged on 135 factors, attendance, staffing, testing in grades 3,4,5,8,10, and 11.

Watch list schools have not made progress from one year to the next. Some schools in Nye County have failed to show progress for three consecutive years. That means the schools are eligible for special education services.

Go to http://www.doe.nv.gov for an indication of how individual schools in the state fare.

According to the department, 12 schools were listed in the exemplary column. Clark County with 289 schools had three listed, Washoe County with 88 schools had two schools on the exemplary list, and tiny Lyon County with 20 schools also had three schools on the list.

In his state of the state address, Governor Kenny Guinn said he wanted to lower that figure of more than 200 schools below the federal No Child Left Behind act. The current legislative session is slow to bring education programs forth. At the same time, Nevada's students that wish to attain a higher education have been faced with a new Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

The SAT is used by many colleges and universities outside Nevada to judge whether or not a person will be capable of handling higher education studies. In Nevada, the American College Test (ACT) is used or individual testing of a candidate is done. California higher education institutions often do individual testing rather than depend on either SAT or ACT test results.

The new SAT includes an essay section as well as revised math and verbal sections, and costs more as well. According to education department information the new SAT costs $41.50. The ACT will remain at $28, but there will be an option for a student to include an essay in the test, and that will bump the cost to $42.

After the few reach university there is no strong argument they will graduate or become well educated. Based on just the NCAA report, which includes such things as leaving school, transferring to another school, and being dropped from a program because of poor scholastics, UNR and UNLV are not faring well.

The NCAA scoring is called an academic progress rate (APR), and they have picked a median number of 925 to indicate that at least 50 percent of the student athletes may actually be able to graduate. Over all, UNR has an overall APR of 920 while UNLV's APR is 904. Both are well below the national average for higher education institutions. In Reno, student athletes who scored the lowest participated in baseball, football, and skiing while in Las Vegas, baseball players were the worst followed by basketball and football.

Is this just an athletics problem? More than likely not since Nevada's graduation rate over all is so low. The problem must start at K, work through 12, and by university level, our children are in an educational pogonip. Those who study such things continue to say the answer lies in the classroom, not in the administrative offices. Create programs that encourage children to learn, and then follow through.

Where does all this leave the classroom teacher? At this stage of the legislative session, there is no answer to that question. Classroom supplies are limited, school districts are not buying books, and too many teachers are opting to become administrators. This would be one place the legislature could seriously help students; give the classroom teacher an incentive to stay in the classroom. Testing is one way teachers could earn classroom incentives including merit based pay increases. Other incentives for teachers whose students become exemplary or show continued educational progress would be classroom materials.

A second help would be for various budget committees to demand explanations for the top-heavy administrative levels in various districts around the state. If most of the education budget is going for administrative costs, it's the student, it's the classroom teacher, that loses.

Those losses are very evident in national reports that have Nevada's education system at or near the very bottom every time. The concept of "readin', ritin' and 'rithmatic" have been replaced with "I'm being kicked upstairs."