Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, center, and State Superintendent Jhone Ebert visit a pre-k classroom at Mater Academy Mountain Vista, following a press conference to announce the states Acing Accountability initiative Thursday Sept. 21, 2023.
Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023 | 4:54 p.m.
State leaders released a multipronged framework Thursday to ensure that Nevada’s public schools will properly use historic new funding to improve student outcomes.
The “Acing Accountability” initiative follows up on a commitment that Gov. Joe Lombardo made in his January State of the State address to support Nevada’s pupil-centered funding plan for the first time since it was passed in 2019, using an infusion of $2.6 billion.
“With this historic funding, however, comes unprecedented accountability. As I stated in January, along with this funding, I expect results. I won’t accept a lack of funding as an excuse for underperformance,” the Republican governor said Thursday at an announcement at Mater Academy Mountain Vista, a charter school on Las Vegas’ east side. “I’ll be working with our state superintendents to ensure our systems of accountability and transparency are robust and enforced.”
The initiative lays out six metrics that study students’ academic growth, proficiency and engagement as well as the stability of the educator workforce in all traditional school districts and the statewide charter school system. The state organizes these metrics as “essential questions,” and they ask:
• To what degree are districts effectively implementing reading and math resources? This includes using high-quality curriculum and materials, and following district plans.
• To what degree are kindergarten through third grade students showing growth in literacy? This follows both proficiency and individual growth, with at least 65% of students meeting or beating their personal growth goals. Also, the state would like to see the number of children scoring “proficient” or better grow by at least five percentage points.
• To what degree are fourth through eighth graders showing growth in math? An increasing number of students should be on track to be proficient either within three years or by eighth grade. Again, the state would like to see the number of children scoring “proficient” or better grow by at least five percentage points.
• To what degree are high school graduates prepared for success in college or a career? Next school year, at least 75% of all high school students are enrolled in at least one Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, dual-credit, career and technical education, work-based learning or world language course. Districts must also increase the number of their students receiving the more rigorous “college and career ready” diploma.
• To what degree do districts have the workforce to meet the needs of every student? This requires districts to decrease the number of open positions, including those filled by substitutes, by 20%. This must be achieved by filling the positions, not eliminating them. Districts must also narrow the gap in which low-income schools have vacancies and rely on long-term substitutes versus schools that have a more affluent population.
• To what degree are districts using innovative solutions to meet the unique needs of their students? This relies on locally developed goals.
State Superintendent Jhone Ebert said this open-ended item gives Nevada’s diverse school systems some room.
“We have 17 unique school districts, from the fifth largest in the nation, to a school district that has under 100 children,” she said. “Having one system for all those children, the expectations, setting those high, is important. But we also need to value and honor the context that each of our communities has.”
Ebert noted that proficiency will not be measured by adopting new standardized tests. The state will use data from existing exams.
Lombardo said he understands that it takes time for a large education system, especially one as large as the Clark County School District, to change course.
He said his administration will develop consequences for schools that might fail to meet goals and present those possibilities at the next legislative session in 2025. As for now, he said he wants to have a “conversation of support.”
“You can’t have a constant conversation of threat, because that doesn’t work well,” he said.
In a statement posted on social media, the Clark County Education Association said it would do its part to hold CCSD — with which it is locked in bitter battle for a new teacher contract — accountable. It added that Clark County needs measures as strong as direct state intervention, like receivership, “to ensure that student outcomes improve and the historic funding levels passed this past legislative session find their way into the classroom.”
In a statement, CCSD said it welcomes Lombardo’s efforts and now that the state has established metrics, “we will continue rebounding our students to produce improved outcomes.”
“We welcome Gov. Lombardo’s call for accountability, which we’ve been implementing since launching our Focus 2024 Strategic Plan five years ago when I first arrived,” CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara, who met separately with Ebert at Rundle Elementary School, said in a statement. “Starting in the classroom, CCSD staff continue to focus on student-centered instruction and outcomes to lift our students out of the pandemic-related declines we — like every school district — have experienced. Those who criticize our results must realize they are criticizing our teachers who deal with unprecedented issues to educate our kids, including the ongoing effects of a worldwide pandemic.”
The district added that while the school board and superintendent are ultimately accountable for results, “accountability expectations must exist at every level, and the district will work with bargaining units to ensure that every employee understands the expectations outlined in state law and district policies.”
[email protected] / 702-990-8949 / @HillaryLVSun
