Quality School Options in Short Supply in the 89122 (Whitney)
With today’s publication of school ratings under Nevada’s School Performance Framework, families have a crucial new tool to help them fully understand how their public schools rate comparatively. Scoring is based on a range of academic indicators tied to the state’s student performance standards. Academic achievement and the academic growth of individual students over time on different assessments, and measures of student engagement each factor into school ratings, all contribute to school ratings. On the Five-Star evaluation system designed by the Nevada Department of Education, roughly 15 percent of all schools scored at five stars (highest rating), while about the same number posted a one star rating (lowest). The ratings were not evenly distributed across the state, as can be expected. Schools in some neighborhoods performed consistently higher, some lower. Schools located in Nevada’s poorest neighborhoods frequently posted the lowest scores, even though the state framework weights student growth more than it does straight measures of subject-matter proficiency. Schools serving students who have performed below their grade level in the past have a strong opportunity to score well based on these students’ learning gains. Families living in the 89122 zip code on the eastern side of Las Vegas' Whitney neighborhood face this problem in...