Nevada's Poor Public School Performance

Statistics from Nevada are employed frequesntly to exemplify the impacts of a CASINO ECONOMY.

This defines NEVADA:

The states with the worst schools, 2015

By Thomas C. Frohlich and Alexander Kent January 20, 2015

 

 

 

 

2. Nevada
Overall grade: D
State score: 65.0
Per-pupil spending: $8,141 (5th lowest)
High school graduation rate: 60.0% (the lowest)
Eighth-graders proficient in math or reading: 28.3% (10th lowest)

 

 

Less than 34% of children in Nevada had at least one parent with a post-secondary degree, the lowest rate nationwide. Since parents play perhaps the most important role in a child’s chance for success, poor educational attainment rates among adults in Nevada were likely a factor in children’s relatively poor achievements in school. Similarly, early education can set the stage for a child’s entire academic career. Young children in Nevada were among the least likely nationwide to attend preschool or kindergarten. With the lowest high school graduation rate in the country, at 60% in 2012, young adults in Nevada were also far less likely to pursue further education than their peers in most states. While 55.1% of American young adults were enrolled in or had completed a post-secondary degree program, just 40.5% in Nevada were — nearly the lowest rate.

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/01/09/americas-best-and-worst-school-systems/4/
 

Nevada has the lowest high school graduation rate in the country

To those who promote Las Vegas as the standard to be emulated, beyond the facades of excess, does anyone consider the statistics?


Nevada has the lowest high school graduation rate in the country.


But now a multi-million dollar federal grant is helping one district turn its schools around. Host Michel Martin speaks with a principal who spent last Saturday knocking on the doors of students who dropped out, encouraging them to come back to school.

MARTIN: Neddy Alvarez, I'd like to start with you. Only 43 percent of the students who started your school in 2006 actually graduated with their class in 2010, according to the district's figures. Why do you think that is?

ALVAREZ: There's many reasons that, you know, they drop out. There are reasons - you know, poverty, pregnancy, students not being engaged. They don't see a value, no connection. There's not a value there for them. Some of them have lost of credits in the 9th and 10th grade they lose their credits. They haven't passed their proficiency exams. Then they don't see that there's a light at the end of the tunnel. So, they think that, you know, there's no reason for them to return, so they drop out.


TAKAHASHI: Well, there are many different factors as, you know, Neddy just said. There are, you know, factors of poverty. Las Vegas of course was really wracked hard by this recession. It has the highest unemployment rate in the country. You know, recent numbers came out today for the national level, but we were at least five percentage points higher. You know, Las Vegas is the foreclosure and bankruptcy rate capital in the nation.

And so, there are a lot of different factors here that lead to homelessness among students. You know, that give rise to the things such as crime and drugs and alcohol abuse. And a lot of those things, of course, impact family life. You know, families working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. And so, you've got a lot of students here who might be working to help support their families.

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Let's Copy Las Vegas!

So, you want to copy Las Vegas ?

In a repeat of last year, Nevada was the lowest-ranking state in the nation with a graduation rate of 47.3 percent.

Clark County's graduation rate is even lower at 46.8 percent, which places it at 43 among the nation's 50 biggest school districts, according to Education Week's annual Diplomas Count study

The graduation rate in Nevada declined by 23 percentage points between 1996 and 2006 while the national graduation rate improved by 2 percentage points to 69 percent.

"Among the nation's leaders, Iowa, New Jersey, and Wisconsin each graduates more than 80 percent of all high school students," said the study, which was released Tuesday. "At the opposite end of the spectrum, just under half of students finish high school in the District of Columbia and Nevada. A gap of 35 percentage points divides the top and bottom states."
Local educators fault the study's methodology but agree that the state has reason to be embarrassed.

"The citizens in Nevada should be up in arms about being at the bottom of the list for education, health care and other social services for their children," said Clark County School District Superintendent Walt Rulffes.



Before we jump on any bandwagon and rush to copy a fad, there seems to be a correlation between predatory gambling and the well being of state residents.