COMMENTARY

Nevada has made strides on education, but plenty of work remains

In the last legislative session, Nevadans approved bold changes to the state's public education system to ensure schools work better for the people they are built to serve: children. Now it's time to put those reforms into place in ways that not only make the laws passed worth the paper they're printed on, but also lead to solid learning gains.

Amid national partisan bickering, Gov. Brian Sandoval, state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer, Assemblywoman Debbie Smith and Assemblyman David Bobzien led the effort in Nevada to come together in a bipartisan way to bring common-sense change to schools. Now we need to make sure that success isn't squandered.

The new law requires job performance be considered when teacher layoffs arise, rather than basing layoffs on seniority alone. That will be important this year if the economic slump forces a reduction in Nevada's teaching force. No one wants that to happen, but if it does, it's critical we keep the best teachers in the classrooms.

The law also requires officials to come up with a new, fair and objective statewide evaluation system for educators. That will replace a system in which teachers were typically reviewed infrequently, subjectively and in ways that didn't reward excellence or help those struggling to improve.

Under the new law, a newly appointed Teachers and Leaders Council must recommend what the evaluation system should look like. The council should design a rigorous and transparent system that provides teachers with the feedback they need and want. The council also should swiftly engage stakeholders, such as teachers, school administrators and parents in a meaningful conversation about the changes.

Ultimately, the new evaluation system must recognize great teaching and, when necessary, remove struggling teachers who don't improve. Too much is at stake to do otherwise. Research by Stanford University expert Eric Hanushek shows that an effective teacher generates three times the academic gains of an ineffective teacher. By supporting and evaluating the quality of a teacher's work with kids, we are prioritizing a quality education for all students and laying the groundwork for a stronger future work force in Nevada. Great teaching and learning will help ensure Nevada children are career and college ready.

Though the reforms passed were sweeping, our work in the Legislature on education is far from complete. Lawmakers should build on the momentum of the past session and pursue new and equally important changes that will benefit kids and families. For example, many states are considering empowering parents of children in chronically failing schools to petition to make key changes at those schools. This could include changing a school's management structure or its leadership. Parental engagement is critical to student success, and we have to do everything we can to empower parents to become more engaged in their children's education. Nevadans should consider such legislation as well.

Turning around a failing school can take time, and as a mother to two school-age daughters, I just don't think any child should have to wait it out in a terribly underperforming school because it's the one they were assigned to based on their ZIP code. Several years in an ineffective classroom can have a horrible effect on a child's entire life trajectory. Knowing that, Nevada legislators need to empower low-income families who are stuck in chronically failing schools with the chance to get public scholarships to attend high-quality private schools. Any private school that participates should, of course, be held accountable for the learning that happens there, in the same way that is expected of traditional district and public charter schools.

We know there are some who think we've done enough, or perhaps even too much, to try to shake up the status quo in our schools. But when you look at the picture of education in Nevada, you see we have to keep working at this.

The unemployment rate in the state is more than 13 percent, higher than anywhere else in the country. Improving schools will help ensure kids gain the knowledge and skills employers are looking for. Nevada also has one of the highest dropout rates in the country, and achievement levels for kids who are in school are far too low. The percentage of children in Nevada who can read or do math competently, according to the National Assessment for Educational Progress, hovers between roughly 20 and 30 percent in the elementary- and middle-school grades. Surely, we can all agree that's not good enough.

If we pull together and make sure the changes we already fought for are put in place in a thoughtful way and advocate for additional student-centered reforms, we can give kids in Nevada the education and bright futures they deserve.

Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of Washington, D.C.'s schools, is CEO of StudentsFirst, a public education reform group.

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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. Malousnormal Oct. 18, 2011 | 9:57 p.m. Report Abuse

   Education will only improve when ALL unneeded activities are ended at the schools...a basic curriculum founded in real world practicality and no semi pro sports programs or froo froo new age subjects allowed....exclude any discipline problems to detention schools with the same curricula and no coming back...the inept teachers can be put into the detention schools where they can do less harm to those willing to learn...

2. TankerUSMA1975 Oct. 17, 2011 | 9:50 p.m. Report Abuse

   @n7v. n7v.blogspot.com wrote on October 16, 2011 10:39 PM:Frankly, I don't see how CCSD can get away with having a few not horrible schools and hundreds of really awful ones. Anyone assigned to a crappy, commonplace CCSD school should be able to walk into any of CCSD's atypical schools, find a classroom servicing his grade level, and sit at any open desk. Anyone ever heard of "Equal Protection"?" So if you weren't talking about the 14th Amendment, what do you mean by the phrase "Equal Protection"?

3. n7v.blogspot.com Oct. 17, 2011 | 4:30 p.m. Report Abuse

   Hey, stop! I never invoked the 14th Amendment. Indeed, I'd like to see that REPEALED. Besides, I would never use *US* Constitutional grounds to argue against a NV education policy. Washington has NO role in public education.
   
   I believe CA has an equal protection (EP) clause. NV certainly does NOT.
   
   EP is a worthwhile principle. You can use it to justify BIGGER government if you want. I'll use it to argue for a *fair*, small one.

4. TankerUSMA1975 Oct. 16, 2011 | 11:14 p.m. Report Abuse

   @n.7.v If you want to introduce the "Equal Protection" concept, then you can't deny a student an education because they don't fit your definition of what the state is supposed to provide. The State Constitution says that the County is responsible for providing an education system for the residents of the county. To try to limit that based on income is denying the "privleged" their rights under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

5. n7v.blogspot.com Oct. 16, 2011 | 10:39 p.m. Report Abuse

   I'm not sure what that means. Moved .. where? What's the point of withdrawing your kid from the crappy school nearby to enroll him in the crappy school far away?
   
   Frankly, I don't see how CCSD can get away with having a few not horrible schools and hundreds of really awful ones. Anyone assigned to a crappy, commonplace CCSD school should be able to walk into any of CCSD's atypical schools, find a classroom servicing his grade level, and sit at any open desk. Anyone ever heard of "Equal Protection"?
   
   Notice I didn't say "transfer", or mention going through any of the other bureaucratic impediments which stand in a students' way.
   
   To argue otherwise is to assert that you should not be allowed to play in certain public parks or drive on certain public streets at the same time as the "privileged" classes.

6. TankerUSMA1975 Oct. 16, 2011 | 9:13 p.m. Report Abuse

   @N7v. The option for parents to request that their kids be moved already exists in No Child Left Behind.

7. n7v.blogspot.com Oct. 16, 2011 | 9:11 p.m. Report Abuse

   many states are considering empowering parents of children in chronically failing schools to petition to make key changes at those schools.
   
   So parents can remake things any way they want, so long as the end result is still a *public* school.
   
   The BIG Government writer just DOESN'T GET IT. Public education is a CATASTROPHE. It CANNOT be reformed. It needs to be ABOLISHED.
   
   McDonald's has an employee evaluation system. It probably works well enough. They also must have fashion experts selecting uniforms, nutrition experts selecting menus items, and so forth. But you know what? We, the customers, couldn't care less about that. We just want them to get our orders right at the drive-thru.
   
   Government control of education means that every aspect of the system -- from how teachers get evaluated to what school colors ought to be to what gets served in the cafeterias -- becomes politicized.

8. DW17 Oct. 16, 2011 | 5:52 p.m. Report Abuse

   THERE IS NO EVIDENCE THAT VOUCHERS AND/OR CHARTER SCHOOLS POSITIVELY IMPACT PUBLIC SCHOOLS. IT SOUNDS GOOD BUT IT JUST ISN'T SO.

9. TankerUSMA1975 Oct. 16, 2011 | 4:54 p.m. Report Abuse

   This is a link to a story in the Washington Post where Michelle Rhee talks about taping her students mouth shut. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcschools/2010/08/michelle_rhee_first-year_teach.html
   
   This link is where she admits that there may have been widespread cheating on tests while she was the DC School Chancellor. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/rhee-acknowledges-possible-cheating-on-school-tests/2011/03/30/AFBKaI5B_story.html
   
   She is a great one to be giving advice on how to improve Nevada schools.

10. William Oct. 16, 2011 | 4:39 p.m. Report Abuse

    The Nevada Policy and Research Institute has done a number of interesting independant studies on Education in Nevada including the following from Sept 15, 2011:
    Neighboring states upstage Nevada education. The majority of Nevada’s neighbors boast higher student achievement at lower cost. http://www.npri.org/publications/neighboring-states-upstage-nevada-education

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