[jm0405]

I am a native of Las Vegas - born and raised - age 40 now. I took classes at Community College and UNLV and breezed through them. A few years later, I took the same classes through Louisiana State University as a "refresher" - MAN!! I HAD TO SERIOUSLY STUDY!! I have continued taking classes through LSU due to better quality, more in-depth courses, getting my money's worth and they are cheaper than UNLV! Go figure!

Now...I have friends from NY, Chicago, Ohio that relocated to Vegas. When they live here, their kids are straight A students, but THE MINUTE they move back home, they are about 2-1/2 years behind all the other kids and need tutors and have to make up TONS of homework. I believe my friends are not exaggerating in the slightest because of my own personal comparison between LSU and UNLV. I am simply convinced that the education system is of better quality on the other side of the Rocky Mountains and/or Mississippi River. It seems CA, NV and UT are quite lax regarding education requirements. When I met college students years ago in UT, many of them couldn't look up words in a dictionary without going through every letter in the book until they found "P" and then would start on page 1 of the letter P and go through every column until they found something like "physics" - they had no grasp on English or Math. Witnessing and experiencing what I have, I believe the education system is far better in about 2/3 of the US - starting on the East Coast moving inward.

Another detail I picked up on is this: Children and adults from NY, NJ and MA have a great vocabulary!!!! They speak on a professional level from about age 9 upward. In NV, children don't learn to speak that proficiently until about 2-1/2 years into college.

NV boasts having a 50% high school dropout rate this past year as well. Other states don't share that "accomplishment."

[photobuff42]

Originally Posted by USAFMOM

My husband just attended my daughter's Parent teacher Conference and she told him it's the schools policy to NOT give them a failing grade. I think she said the policy is called "No Zeros allowed" or something. This means that if my daughter takes a spelling test and gets only 2 out of 10 right, they automatically give her a 5 out of 10 right just so she will not fail. Yes...they are admitting they lie on paper saying kids are passing when they are truely not.
I'm sure this all has to do with making sure the school does not fall below their AYP standards . As long as the school looks good on paper, who cares who they really do.

Grades have absolutely nothing to do with a school making AYP.

[sierramadre44]

Originally Posted by jm0405

I am a native of Las Vegas - born and raised - age 40 now. I took classes at Community College and UNLV and breezed through them. A few years later, I took the same classes through Louisiana State University as a "refresher" - MAN!! I HAD TO SERIOUSLY STUDY!! I have continued taking classes through LSU due to better quality, more in-depth courses, getting my money's worth and they are cheaper than UNLV! Go figure!

Now...I have friends from NY, Chicago, Ohio that relocated to Vegas. When they live here, their kids are straight A students, but THE MINUTE they move back home, they are about 2-1/2 years behind all the other kids and need tutors and have to make up TONS of homework. I believe my friends are not exaggerating in the slightest because of my own personal comparison between LSU and UNLV. I am simply convinced that the education system is of better quality on the other side of the Rocky Mountains and/or Mississippi River. It seems CA, NV and UT are quite lax regarding education requirements. When I met college students years ago in UT, many of them couldn't look up words in a dictionary without going through every letter in the book until they found "P" and then would start on page 1 of the letter P and go through every column until they found something like "physics" - they had no grasp on English or Math. Witnessing and experiencing what I have, I believe the education system is far better in about 2/3 of the US - starting on the East Coast moving inward.

Another detail I picked up on is this: Children and adults from NY, NJ and MA have a great vocabulary!!!! They speak on a professional level from about age 9 upward. In NV, children don't learn to speak that proficiently until about 2-1/2 years into college.

NV boasts having a 50% high school dropout rate this past year as well. Other states don't share that "accomplishment."

Thanks for that input. All that you have stated is a VERY major concern for me, and I regret coming back out here rather than staying in TN because I feel that I did a MAJOR disservice to my children in terms of educational excellence. I work very hard to give them alternative educational opportunities. Hope they help them. Thanks for the honesty.

[olecapt]

Nevada is a blue collar state. It will not compare well to MA or NJ or even AZ or CA. It is quite urban. So a combination of urban and blue collar.

That will kill you in the overall numbers..PSAT scores or graduation rates.

But it does not imply that you can't get a good education. Merely that the demographics numbers are low and collectively you will not score well.

Should a blue collar high ethnic urban area send 90% of it high school graduates to college? Should it graduate 90%? Based on what.

Maybe it can claim fame as the honest place...where the kids who don't do well in High School don't graduate. That is not all bad.

If you have a kid capable of the upper 1% he can do just fine in Las Vegas. If you got one in the upper .1% you might want to think about Palo Alto or a private school. The Meadows is probably the best place in town for a .1% and would likely scholarship a suitable kid.

[USAFMOM]

Originally Posted by medc11

Her teacher is from Buffalo & we are from central NY (Syracuse area). Where is your niece teaching?

Granted, NYS pays a ton in school taxes but I always say - you get what you pay for.

My niece lives in Rodderdam and teaches at a private catholic school.

I grew up in Latham. I do miss it but the taxes are too high among other problems.