Columnist Bill Hanlon: Board's suggestion for education reform

BILL HANLON is a school district administrator and a member of the State Board of Education. He can be reached on the Internet at bhanlon@ accessnv.com.

MANY STATES ARE experiencing minor revolts against their education-reform measures. From Massachusetts to the Carolinas to California, educators are questioning the wisdom of legislators and governors.

Nevada's Educational Reform Act not only seems to be accepted by educators, it is having a positive effect.

From the onset, both Gov. Bob Miller and Sen. Bill Raggio, R-Reno, the principal architects of the reform measure, insisted they did not want this statute to be seen as punitive. I believe they are succeeding. Last month, Miller visited a school in Las Vegas that was categorized as "inadequately performing." It was clearly a positive visit. He saw firsthand the problems teachers face on a daily basis. That visit was a boost to school morale as well as the perception that Senate Bill 482 is not a punitive measure.

Building on the bill's intent and foundation, the State Board of Education will seek funding for statewide curriculum audits to ensure that new academic standards are implemented across the state. The board, following the lead of the Legislature, will also increase emphasis on student attendance by attendance officers to follow up on students who are habitually missing school. Everyone agrees you can't teach students who are not in class.

The lack of stability and consistency in schools brought on by teacher transiency also has been identified a factor that places schools at greater risk. The board wants to create an incentive for teachers to apply and remain at schools in lower socio-economic areas. The board is proposing that the state buy out one year of retirement for every five to seven years teachers remain at at-risk schools.

Because SB428's intent was to increase student achievement, the board will ask the Legislature to expand categories describing school performance to four. The board also will ask that schools that are not categorized as "inadequately performing" but have substantial numbers of students not performing well on at least two parts of the state-required tests have access to remediation funds. If that were in effect now, that would increase the number of schools eligible for funding to 57.

The board will also consider implementing a statewide test on computer skills for graduation. Because of the emphasis that has been placed on technology, funding will be sought for testing to ensure kids are computer-literate.

While the governor has addressed class size in kindergarten through third grade, the board is concerned with class sizes reaching 38 students in fourth through sixth grade. Because of the expense, the board will for direction on how legislators wish to address this problem.

Educational research suggests that student achievement is affected less than 10 percent with smaller classes in grades 5 and 6. On the other hand, teacher preparation accounts for more than 40 percent of increased student achievement. With the national and state concern over teacher preparation programs, the state board terminated their partnership with an outside accrediting agency to determine program approval of teacher-training programs. The state board will use INTASC standards, which are based on performance, along with partnerships with local school districts to determine program approval of teacher-training programs in the future.

Professional development is also a major concern for teachers already in the schools. The board is proposing that professional development in the state focus on the new standards in math, language arts, science and social studies, and in classroom management, special education and technology.

All these initiatives complement the state's educational reform act. And, while the initiatives look good, policy-makers, educators and reformers cannot ignore that parents need to be more intimately involved in their children's education.

If parents don't know their children's teachers by name, if they don't know when tests are schedules or what classes their kids pre-registered for next year, then increasing student achievement in the state will continue to be a battle up a very steep hill. The good news is that, in Nevada, educators, policy-makers and legislators are all working together to increase student achievement. Hopefully, parents will too.

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