Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You all knew it had to be coming. And it will be fun to hear how Scoop explains it all.
The big difference is the high school go all the way to perfection. Now the school that gets there is a two year deal run by CSN. And a number of the top schools are of the select type. But it is clear the high schools do far better than the middle schools and this has remained true over the years...and it is remarkably better.
So do our kids get smarter as they get through puberty? Or is it puberty that whacks the middle schools? Or is there some other mechanism that makes the apparent performance of middle school kids worse than both the older and younger.
Here is the data...went down through the schools until 70% or 280 score.
CSNHS East 400%
CSNHS South 398%
CSNHS West 397%
VT CTA. 395%
NW CTA 394%
West CTA 393%
A Tech 392%
Las Vegas Academy 387%
SW CTA 386%
Sandy Valley Jr/Sr HS 383%
East CTA 372%
Boulder City HS 369%
Coronado HS 367%
Explore Knowledge SEC 365%
SE CTA 365%
West Prep SEC 359%
Moapa Valley HS 357%
Indian Springs HS 354%
Palo Verde HS 349%
Foothill HS 346%
Virtual HS 345%
Green Valley HS 339%
Arbor View HS 336%
Centennial HS 336%
Shadow Ridge HS 334%
Desert Oasis HS 333%
Liberty HS 330%
Silverado HS 328%
Virgin Valley HS 322%
Agassi Academy SEC 318%
Sierra Vista HS 318%
Spring Valley HS 317%
Laughlin Jr/Sr HS 313%
Rancho HS 312%
Las Vegas HS 306%
CimarronMemorial HS 303%
Durango HS 303%
Peterson Behavior Jr/Sr HS 301%
Basic HS 298%
Clark HS 294%
Bonanza HS 287%
Legacy HS 283%
Del Sol HS 280%
Mojave HS 280%
It would be nice to know how they get the data and how they score the schools.
How does the 400 pt school compare to let's say the schools around the country? Is it better than the schools in Silicon Valley, Cambridge area or some other rich school districts? Or is this score just for Nevada so it's the state standards where the kids don't know the difference between principal and principle and "point to Rhode Island" and they are looking in the ocean?
What does the 400 perfect hs mean? All the kids go onto college? All the teachers are educational and motivational and child sitters.
There are several problems in these school threads.
You touched on the major problem. There is no way to take a child and run him or her through the CCSD system, and then take that exact same child and run him or her through Palo Alto's system and then compare.
Residents (and particularly parents) insist that if their child didn't crash and burn in life that our schools are great. First rate. World class. And the reason for this is that parents don't want to think for a minute that they did anything but the best for their children. To admit that Las Vegas schools are inferior to school systems elsewhere in the country is to admit that they could have done better. (Many cannot move without ruining themselves financially. Many come from areas where the schools are even worse than here. Let's be honest -- for many people in this city, CCSD is an improvement. I'm not suggesting that everyone has the ability to pull stakes and move to Massachusetts or Northern California.) They also ignore things like peer group. Because that would mean having to take a long, hard look at the sort of person who moves to Las Vegas and loves it here.
But I'm mostly speaking about the yuppie, soccer-mom types who want to point to every report that says Las Vegas schools are perfect. They ignore all the drop-out statistics and the R-J report above. Confirmation bias is strong in this type of person -- their self-esteem is tied to anything that casts a favorable light on the school system.
You can spot these people instantly. When presented with conflicting information, they say things like, "Well, it's bad all over the southwest." Or, "Too many immigrants and minorities." Or they point to the kid who received a full ride to Princeton and say, "See! Our schools produce winners!"
They cherry pick the end of the bell curve while ignoring the fact that nearly half the students in CCSD do not graduate high school. These people are so short sighted that their solution is to suggest that people move to slightly better neighborhoods -- as if all those drop-outs are going to go away as soon as they get to the safety of Summerlin. Face it. We're in a feedback loop. The children of drop-outs are more likely to drop-out, and have more children, who drop out. And so on and so on. (Just like the children of unwed teens are more likely to have children of their own as teens.)
To work on fixing a problem, first they'd have to admit that a problem exists. That isn't going to happen.
Scoop, yuppie soccer moms ARE going to say that LV schools are perfect. That is because their kids are going to Coronado and Palo Verde, not Desert Pines or Eldorado. Yes, Nevada is rated worst education in the US, and I believe still holds the highest dropout rate, but the yuppie soccer moms can afford not to see that.
My point is that the yuppie soccer mom is surrounded by the results of our drop-out problem, if she chooses to open her eyes and see it.
Furthermore, just like having great schools in the area raises the bar for all schools (Wallingford High School benefits from having Choate in town -- even for the students who don't attend Choate. Or to use your state as an example, Barrington High School benefits from having St. Andrew's nearby. Now compound that by having lots of these schools in a tight area. There's a reason why some areas are known for their schools. It doesn't even have to be snooty private schools -- which I chose because everyone knows them by name. For instance, of the top 50 high schools in New York, 14 of them are on Long Island. Jericho, Manhasset, Greenport, etc. That causes its OWN feedback loop -- raising the bar improves performance which further raises the bar.)
So, what do you think is the effect of having a Desert Pines or Eldorado on the more middle-of-the-road schools?
I think it's disingenuous for someone who attended school in one of these educational powerhouses to suggest that Las Vegas schools are "good enough."
There are several problems in these school threads.
You touched on the major problem. There is no way to take a child and run him or her through the CCSD system, and then take that exact same child and run him or her through Palo Alto's system and then compare.
Residents (and particularly parents) insist that if their child didn't crash and burn in life that our schools are great. First rate. World class. And the reason for this is that parents don't want to think for a minute that they did anything but the best for their children. To admit that Las Vegas schools are inferior to school systems elsewhere in the country is to admit that they could have done better. (Many cannot move without ruining themselves financially. Many come from areas where the schools are even worse than here. Let's be honest -- for many people in this city, CCSD is an improvement. I'm not suggesting that everyone has the ability to pull stakes and move to Massachusetts or Northern California.) They also ignore things like peer group. Because that would mean having to take a long, hard look at the sort of person who moves to Las Vegas and loves it here.
But I'm mostly speaking about the yuppie, soccer-mom types who want to point to every report that says Las Vegas schools are perfect. They ignore all the drop-out statistics and the R-J report above. Confirmation bias is strong in this type of person -- their self-esteem is tied to anything that casts a favorable light on the school system.
You can spot these people instantly. When presented with conflicting information, they say things like, "Well, it's bad all over the southwest." Or, "Too many immigrants and minorities." Or they point to the kid who received a full ride to Princeton and say, "See! Our schools produce winners!"
They cherry pick the end of the bell curve while ignoring the fact that nearly half the students in CCSD do not graduate high school. These people are so short sighted that their solution is to suggest that people move to slightly better neighborhoods -- as if all those drop-outs are going to go away as soon as they get to the safety of Summerlin. Face it. We're in a feedback loop. The children of drop-outs are more likely to drop-out, and have more children, who drop out. And so on and so on. (Just like the children of unwed teens are more likely to have children of their own as teens.)
To work on fixing a problem, first they'd have to admit that a problem exists. That isn't going to happen.
Virtually all nonsense simply reflecting the writer's bias.
In general calibrating the NV standards against NAEP indicates that NV standards, while lower than NAEP, are roughly in the middle of the US states. So a NV school with high percentage over standard would do reasonably well on a US metric. So Coronado is pretty good as a US high school.
The graduation rate is now just over 70%. Could be better but a lot better than 50%.
And the writer uses a strawman reflecting no reality to denigrate the comments of knowledgeable parents.
And the top ranks of the schools will send virtually 100% of their kids to college.
And NV just took a vast leap to improve the schools. It has been widely reported but apparently some did not get the message.
With the right personality, attitude, teacher, parents, and throw in fate and relatives, it does not matter one iota what your school ranking was or is and your future success.
It would be nice to know how they get the data and how they score the schools.
How does the 400 pt school compare to let's say the schools around the country? Is it better than the schools in Silicon Valley, Cambridge area or some other rich school districts? Or is this score just for Nevada so it's the state standards where the kids don't know the difference between principal and principle and "point to Rhode Island" and they are looking in the ocean?
What does the 400 perfect hs mean? All the kids go onto college? All the teachers are educational and motivational and child sitters.
The NSC high schools are small and junior and senior year only. The kids are all already taking college level courses. The technology academies, Ad Tech and the Las Vegas Academy however are reasonably large schools though with selective enrollment.
The calibration on the NV achievement tests would put NV in the middle of the US states. There is a NAEP paper on the subject. One could analyze a bit further by comparing the Exceeds Standards numeric or National Merit numbers.
Just read the article and I'd like to point out that "Only six of the 13 indicators are school-related."
More detail, "Four of the chance-for-success calculations involve family characteristics. Nevada ranked 37th nationally for family income and 36th for parental employment with 70 percent of children having at least one parent working full time and year round.
Nevada landed 49th in terms of fluency. About 73 percent of parents speak fluent English, well below the 83 percent national average.
Nevada was last for its rate of college-educated parents. Only 32 percent of children have at least one parent with a college degree, short of the 46 percent national average.
Education Week also weighed adult quality of life to determine children’s chance for success. Nevada’s rate of adults who met or exceeded the national median income was 46 percent, 37th in the country.
Only 30 percent of adults have a two-year or four-year degree, ranking Nevada 48th in the United States. Lastly, 66 percent of Nevada adults have steady employment, 3 percentage points behind the national average but ranking low at 45th."
While I will not argue that CCSD can do a better job and need to be better funded, there are factors that the school district cannot control. If you don't give a **** about your child's education, are not involved, do not actively participate and your child is not a wunderkid and succeeds in spite of his or her parents, chances are your child's chances of success are less than the child of a parent(s) who is involved and not only stresses the importance of an eduction but walks the walk.
Again, I don't disagree that the state and CCSD can do better but parents need to be doing their part as well. You can't treat school like a daycare and expect the students to excel.
There are several problems in these school threads.
You touched on the major problem. There is no way to take a child and run him or her through the CCSD system, and then take that exact same child and run him or her through Palo Alto's system and then compare.
Residents (and particularly parents) insist that if their child didn't crash and burn in life that our schools are great. First rate. World class. And the reason for this is that parents don't want to think for a minute that they did anything but the best for their children. To admit that Las Vegas schools are inferior to school systems elsewhere in the country is to admit that they could have done better. (Many cannot move without ruining themselves financially. Many come from areas where the schools are even worse than here. Let's be honest -- for many people in this city, CCSD is an improvement. I'm not suggesting that everyone has the ability to pull stakes and move to Massachusetts or Northern California.) They also ignore things like peer group. Because that would mean having to take a long, hard look at the sort of person who moves to Las Vegas and loves it here.
But I'm mostly speaking about the yuppie, soccer-mom types who want to point to every report that says Las Vegas schools are perfect. They ignore all the drop-out statistics and the R-J report above. Confirmation bias is strong in this type of person -- their self-esteem is tied to anything that casts a favorable light on the school system.
You can spot these people instantly. When presented with conflicting information, they say things like, "Well, it's bad all over the southwest." Or, "Too many immigrants and minorities." Or they point to the kid who received a full ride to Princeton and say, "See! Our schools produce winners!"
They cherry pick the end of the bell curve while ignoring the fact that nearly half the students in CCSD do not graduate high school. These people are so short sighted that their solution is to suggest that people move to slightly better neighborhoods -- as if all those drop-outs are going to go away as soon as they get to the safety of Summerlin. Face it. We're in a feedback loop. The children of drop-outs are more likely to drop-out, and have more children, who drop out. And so on and so on. (Just like the children of unwed teens are more likely to have children of their own as teens.)
To work on fixing a problem, first they'd have to admit that a problem exists. That isn't going to happen.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
