Vol. 2, No. 19
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August 1, 2005
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CRIMINAL DEFENSE |
COPYWRITING
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Time Again For Readin', Writin', And Hand Wringin'
Those School Bells Will Be Ringing Soon; Is Nevada's Education System Up To It?
by Johnny Gunn
There's more to the opening of another school year than back to school sales and unfulfilled political promises from the last election cycle, but unfortunately in Nevada those two items are generally at the top of the agenda. There is also more to educating our next crop of leaders than just pouring money into an unending mine shaft. And we're not going to spend lots of Internet bytes complaining and cry babying. We'll leave that to the professionals. Hopefully the point The Nevada Observer will be making will be that Nevada's youngsters are far more at-risk than our leaders are willing to admit.
Nevada's education system is generally ranked at or near the bottom of every list that's published. The various school district trustees are meeting or have met as we go to press to judge how the schools in the Silver State fared as regards the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in the 2004-05 year. Not very well, I'm afraid.
In Clark County, the number of schools that did not meet the NCLB requirements climbed from 141 to 205 while in Washoe County one third of the 103 schools were put on the Watch List. Nevada's schools haven't done very well in previous years either. In 2002-03 35 percent of Nevada schools were considered under-performing by the NCLB standards. That would have been 194 schools.
In 2003-04, 225 schools had been placed on either the watch list or needs improvement list. The greatest majority of those schools are in Clark County, which of course has the greatest number of schools.
None of Clark County's schools reached exemplary status, but few in the nation do either. Last year 18 schools in Clark County were rated as high achieving. This year the number is 17.
Just What Is This No Child Left Behind Act?
Schools are judged by way of report cards, about the same as students. The program is one that is expected to reach fulfillment in 2013 with schools progressing from one year to the next. If a school was rated proficient last year, in order to maintain that rating, it must meet slightly higher standards each year until fulfillment.
According to the federal Department of Education, reports on individual schools are part of the annual district report cards also known as local report cards. Each school district must prepare and disseminate annual local report cards that include information on how students in the district and in each school performed on state assessments.
According to reports issued in Clark and Washoe Counties, instead of progressing from last year, most of the schools regressed. According to the standards, this is the third year in a row that Clark County has not met the federal goals. In Washoe County, one third of the schools were judged adequate, one third put on the watch list, and only ten percent judged high achieving.
The report cards must state student performance in terms of: 1. basic, 2. proficient, and 3. advanced. It goes much deeper into such subgroups as race, ethnicity, sex, English language proficiency, migrant status, disability status, and income status. Schools then must be listed by way of their proficiency level.
School districts must also make their NCLB report cards available to parents and the public, and the districts are required to notify parents if their child's school has been identified as needing improvement. Everything is based on yearly improvement, and most districts in Nevada are not at or above the national averages.
It's been pointed out often that despite a considerable amount of money that is spent, even that is below the national average. Spending in Nevada most often goes toward administration rather than classrooms, and in the last legislative session, there was more jockeying by lawmakers over who would get the credit for something than there was for serious discussion about Nevada's education system.
A referendum was passed during the 2004 General Election that must be passed again by the general public before it goes into effect that will force the legislature to pass education and school budgets before any other budget item. That's a good start and you can bet that Dawn Gibbons, one of the forces that pushed that initiative to success, will be stomping the concrete to get the second passage of "education first" during the 2006 election cycle.
The Nation's Report Card
Most education specialists judge the level of learning by way of ability to read and comprehend, the ability to do math at a specific level, and whether or not advanced courses as electives are taken. All the areas are broken down by age and or grade level so a nine-year-old is not expected to read at the level of a sophomore in high school.
The nine-year-old
Information released by the federal Education Department indicates that nine-year-olds are reading far better currently than in any previous year. White, black, and Hispanic children in that age group had average reading scores well above the 1999 level. Usually you will find nine-year-olds in the fourth grade, a pivotal grade from which a child will move into those horrible years in which far too many hormones get released. Studies have found that many people look back on the fourth grade as a pleasurable period of their schooling.
There are many educators and those involved with children in this age group that feel it is the huge success of the Harry Potter books that have led so many into reading. Reading, unlike television or movies, is a stimulation of the imagination. A child's imagination can create far better mind pictures than any TV or movie director could ever create.
Nine-year-olds also scored well above the previous years in mathematics. Again, across the board, white, black, and Hispanic children scored above 1999 and other years.
If these children can continue with their above average learning skills as they advance through the upper grades, and if the education systems in the various states can keep up with the children, we'll have a far better crop of business and political leaders in the coming years.
It's been said before, and this is a shameful thing to discuss, but it has almost been accepted that the tourist and entertainment industry in Nevada has been against higher taxes for education because well educated young people won't work for the pitiful wages that are offered.
The 13-year-old
Quoting from the Education Department web page, "There have been no statistically significant changes in average reading scores of 13-year-olds from any previous year." It may be true, as many have pointed out that it is the nine-year-old, not the 13-year-old, who is most likely to want to read the Harry Potter books
On the other hand, the average mathematics scores in 2004 were higher than in 1978.
And the 17-year-old
The national average score for 17-year-olds in reading showed no statistically significant difference between 2004 and 1999 or 1971.
In mathematics, the national average score for the age group in 2004 was no different than the scores from either 1973 or 1999.
The Federal Education Budget
The U.S. Department of Education's fiscal year (FY) 2006 budget provides $56 billion in education funding, up about one third since President Bush took office. Federal money coming to Nevada during FY 2006 will be about $439 million, up almost 69 percent from when Mr. Bush took office. Nevada's state education budget has not kept pace.
As much as $129 million will be used to help Nevada implement the reforms of NCLB. Special education grants will be more than $70 million and there will about $172 million for new Federal Student Loans.
As has been pointed out, the student that can read has the advantage, not just in studies, but in future life, and the FY 2006 federal budget calls for funding increases to a total of $1.3 billion for reading programs and education. This includes $1 billion for the Reading First program, $140 million for Early Reading First programs, and $200 million for Striving Readers program.
The FY 2006 federal budget also calls for teachers to receive $5.2 billion in support through training, recruitment, incentives, loan forgiveness, and tax relief. That is an increase from $4.8 billion last FY.
The 2006 election cycle is well underway. It got started the day after the General Election in 2004, if not before, and if you are serious, nay passionate about children having a very good education, now is the time to start your homework and discover how your legislator votes on education issues. Don't go by what's said; rather go by what's done.
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Also see related opinion article by Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education, in this issue of The Nevada Observer.
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