After math disaster, schools test on science

By Emily Richmond

Friday, April 4, 2008 | 2 a.m.

This isn’t the week to be asking Clark County School District officials to predict student performance on a new exam.

The district is still reeling from the results of a new end-of-semester math test, which the overwhelming majority of high school students failed. The results were slightly better at the middle school level, but failure rates were still much higher than anyone expected.

This year’s sophomores are the first students who will have to pass a science section (along with math, reading and writing) of the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam to graduate. And on Wednesday, the class of 2010 made its first attempt.

To prepare students, the district began ramping up its science curriculum about two years ago. About 75 percent of high school freshmen are now enrolled in the “principles of science” class, which covers about 70 percent of the new exam’s content.

Additionally, students have access to tutoring and many schools offered weekend cram sessions in the weeks leading up to the test date. The district also launched summer institutes to provide professional development for elementary, middle and high school science teachers, focusing on lab activities, curriculum and preparing students for the proficiency tests.

To lure students to tutoring sessions, science teachers at Desert Pines High School raffled prizes, handing out as much as $100 in cash. But that’s not what’s motivating sophomore Joe Pickens to give his very best effort.

“I want to show everyone I have a bright future,” Pickens said. “And once you pass, you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

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More than 15 months after Gary Waters retired from the State Board of Education, the Nevada Ethics Commission has finally released a written opinion dismissing allegations that he acted improperly while in office.

Joe Enge, a conservative critic of Nevada’s public education system and a member of the Carson City School Board, filed the complaint in June 2006.

Enge alleged that Waters did not sufficiently disclose his ties to the Center for Health and Learning, a nonprofit organization that coordinates special mental health programs, including suicide prevention in public schools. The center was created in February 2004 at Waters’ urging to serve as a bridge between the state’s health and education departments. Waters, a licensed marriage and family therapist, volunteers with the center.

The Ethics Commission conducted its hearing in September 2007 and determined that Waters had properly disclosed his ties to the center. The commissioners also ruled that Waters did not need to abstain from votes that set new standards for supplemental mental health and suicide prevention education programs in Nevada’s public schools.

But the written opinion languished until the commission’s new executive director, Patricia Cafferata, arrived in November. She was previously known for being the first woman to be elected state treasurer.

“There were several opinions that were long overdue,” Cafferata said. “This was one of them.”

The commission’s backlog has been mostly cleared, and there are only “two or three” opinions still remaining to be written in cases that predate her arrival, Cafferata said.

Waters said Thursday he was glad to see the written opinion released.

“I understand these things can take a while,” Waters said with a laugh. “It’s just nice to have everything finished and move on.”

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Parents have until Monday to tell the district what they think about their children’s schools.

That’s the postmark deadline to return a survey sent to more than 310,000 households. District employees have completed a similar survey, and students are continuing to fill out theirs through April 23.

The results will be used as part of the district’s new in-house report card, unveiled in December, which is formally known as the “Quality Assurance Framework.” For the first time, schools will be required to meet performance standards for “customer” satisfaction, which will be based in part on the survey results. The report card sets ambitious goals, from reducing achievement gaps between minority students and their white peers to boosting participation in college entrance exams. Progress will be rated as adequate, moderate or superior.