The Nevada Department of Education Releases 2021 Performance Data for Smarter Balanced Assessments

CARSON CITY, Nev. – The Nevada Department of Education (NDE or Department) has released performance results for the Smarter Balanced assessments in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics administered to third through eighth graders during the 2020-21 school year.  

Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on learning and federal waivers that eliminated the traditionally required 95.0% participation rate for 3-8 assessments, the results do not provide a comprehensive view of Nevada student performance. However, these data are among a number of measures that can help educators understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and identify areas where students are in need of additional support and improvement.

“We are grateful for the herculean efforts educators and families across Nevada underwent to ensure students continued to learn despite the numerous obstacles they faced last year,” said Jhone Ebert, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. “Because of the impacts of the pandemic on education, assessing the quality of schools’ support of students is not a valid use of this year’s assessment results; however, the assessment results can tell us how our students are doing and support us in advancing equity through our efforts to close opportunity gaps between and among student groups. The Nevada Department of Education stands ready to support our educators and students as we work together to deploy the more than one-billion dollars in federal relief funds that have been allocated to Nevada to address the academic and social-emotional needs of our students resulting from the challenges of the last year-and-a-half.”

Considerations for Performance Data

Due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, several caveats should be kept in mind in reviewing assessment results from the 2020-21 school year:

• The impacts of COVID-19 on national performance data must be taken into consideration, as the effects of interrupted learning on students are significant. According to the Center for Assessment, the impacts of COVID-19 on student academic performance are estimated to be two to four times as large as the impact Hurricane Katrina had on the students of Louisiana.
• Assessment data will not be used to establish school accountability ratings under the Nevada School Performance Framework (NSPF) in alignment with the waiver approved by the U.S. Department of Education (USED). As a condition of the waiver, school accountability designations from the 2018-19 school year will be maintained in the 2021-22 school year and identified schools will continue to receive supports and interventions consistent with the school’s support and improvement plan. For the 2021-22 school year, all Nevada schools will maintain their designations as established in the 2018-19 school year accountability ratings, including star ratings as well as Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI), and Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI) designations.
• Participation rate requirements were waived for the 2020-21 school year. Participation rates in Nevada’s school districts ranged from 98.1% to 54.1%. When participation rates decrease, so too does the quality of the inferences that can be made from the results as they are not a representative sample of enrolled students.
• Comparing performance data to previous years is not recommended due to the unique circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevada applied for and received approval to waive federally required assessments, including the Smarter Balanced assessments, for the 2019-20 school year. Data from 2018-19, the last school year in which these assessments were administered, has been included for context.

Smarter Balanced English Language Arts (ELA) Results, Grades 3 through 8

The Smarter Balanced English Language Arts (ELA) Assessment was administered to Nevada students in grades 3 through 8. For the State overall, 41.4% of students demonstrated ELA proficiency.

The Statewide participation rate for ELA was 68.3%, with eight Nevada school districts achieving a participation rate of 95.0% or greater on the assessment: Carson City, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Pershing, Storey, and White Pine.

The participation rate for 16 of Nevada’s 17 school districts and the State Public Charter School Authority is 93.1%, approaching the 95.0% rate required by USED in an average school year. Clark County School District (CCSD), Nevada’s largest school district with an enrollment that comprises 65.6% of all public K-12 students, had a 54.1% participation rate on the ELA assessment. For the 2020-21 school year, USED waived the 95.0% participation rate requirement for all states. To this end, even though its participation rate was 54.1%, CCSD was in compliance with federal and State testing requirements.

Overview of Smarter Balanced ELA Participation Rates

	Nevada Overall	Clark County School District	Nevada Districts, CCSD Excluded
All Grades	68.3%	54.1%	93.1%

Smarter Balanced ELA Participation Rates by School District 

District	Smarter Balanced ELA Participation Rate
State Overall	68.3%
Carson City	98.0%
Churchill	88.3%
Clark	54.1%
Douglas	93.1%
Elko	96.4%
Esmeralda	86.9%
Eureka	97.3%
Humboldt	98.0%
Lander	98.1%
Lincoln	94.4%
Lyon	89.5%
Mineral	93.1%
Nye	84.2%
Pershing	98.1%
State Public Charter School Authority (SPCSA)	92.6%
Storey	97.6%
Washoe	93.6%
White Pine	97.5%

Smarter Balanced ELA: Percent of Students Demonstrating Proficiency by Grade Level

	Nevada Overall, 2020-21	Nevada Overall, 2018-19
All Grades	41.4%	48.5%
Grade 3	36.4%	46.3%
Grade 4	40.3%	49.2%
Grade 5	42.3%	51.9%
Grade 6	39.6%	45.8%
Grade 7	46.4%	50.0%
Grade 8	44.3%	47.6%

Statewide, Nevada’s students demonstrated proficiency at a lower rate than in 2018-19. Based on an average of all grade levels, proficiency rates were lower by 7.1 percentage points when compared with 2018-19 data.

ELA Average Change in Percentage of Students Demonstrating Proficiency 2020-21 vs. 2018-19

	National Data*	Nevada	Clark County School District	Nevada Districts, CCSD Excluded
Grade 3	-6	-11	-16	-4
Grade 4	-5	-10	-14	-5
Grade 5	-5	-10	-13	-6
Grade 6	-4	-6	-8	-6
Grade 7	-4	-4	-6	-3
Grade 8	-3	-3	-5	-3

*These national data are comprised of an aggregation of assessment data across multiple states and their respective analyses.

On a national level, pandemic impacts on student outcomes have affected elementary school students (grades 3 through 5) to a greater extent than they have affected middle school students (grades 6 through 8). Nevada’s grade-level performance is in line with national performance trends.

Excluding CCSD, Nevada student proficiency as demonstrated on the Smarter Balanced ELA assessment saw a 3-to-6 percentage point drop depending on the grade level, which is in line with national trends.

Storey County School District (SCSD) is the only district in the State in which a greater percentage of students demonstrated ELA proficiency in 2020-21 than in 2018-19, with an increase of 1.5 percentage points to reach a total of 54.4% of students demonstrating proficiency in 2020-21. Storey CSD’s participation rates for elementary and middle school ELA were 96.8% and 98.3%, respectively.

Smarter Balanced Mathematics Results, Grades 3 through 8

The Smarter Balanced Mathematics Assessment was administered to Nevada students in grades 3 through 8. For the State overall, the participation rate for Smarter Balanced Mathematics was 68.2% and 26.3% of students demonstrated mathematics proficiency.

Eight Nevada school districts achieved participation rates for Smarter Balanced Mathematics of 95.0% or greater: Carson City, Elko, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Pershing, Storey, and White Pine.

The participation rate for 16 of Nevada’s 17 school districts and the State Public Charter School Authority is 92.8%, approaching the 95.0% rate required by USED in an average school year. Clark County School District (CCSD), Nevada’s largest school district with an enrollment that comprises 65.6% of all public K-12 students, had a 54.1% participation rate on the Smarter Balanced Mathematics assessment. For the 2020-21 school year, USED waived the 95.0% participation rate requirement for all states. To this end, even though its participation rate was 54.1%, CCSD was in compliance with federal and State testing requirements.

Overview of Smarter Balanced Mathematics Participation Rates

	Nevada Overall	Clark County School District	Nevada Districts, CCSD Excluded
All Grades	68.2%	54.1%	92.8%

Smarter Balanced Mathematics Participation Rates by School District

District	Smarter Balanced Mathematics Participation Rate
State Overall	68.2%
Carson City	97.7%
Churchill	88.0%
Clark	54.1%
Douglas	93.0%
Elko	96.2%
Esmeralda	93.4%
Eureka	97.3%
Humboldt	97.5%
Lander	97.9%
Lincoln	94.1%
Lyon	90.1%
Mineral	93.8%
Nye	86.8%
Pershing	97.5%
State Public Charter School Authority (SPCSA)	92.2%
Storey	97.2%
Washoe	93.1%
White Pine	97.3%

Smarter Balanced Mathematics: Percent of Students Demonstrating Proficiency by Grade Level

	Nevada Overall, 2020-21	Nevada Overall, 2018-19
All Grades	26.3%	37.5%
Grade 3	32.1%	47.8%
Grade 4	28.2%	43.9%
Grade 5	24.2%	36.8%
Grade 6	23.4%	34.2%
Grade 7	27.4%	32.4%
Grade 8	21.4%	30.3%

National analyses of mathematics performance indicate a decrease of between 8-to-12 percentile points in proficiency demonstrated by students. In considering Nevada students excluding CCSD, the average proficiency demonstrated by students was between 7-to-12 percentage points lower, in line with the national average.

Mathematics Average Change in Percentage of Students Demonstrating Proficiency 2020-21 vs. 2018-19

	National Data*	Nevada	Clark County School District	Nevada Districts, CCSD Excluded
Grade 3	-12	-17	-24	-9
Grade 4	-11	-19	-24	-11
Grade 5	-11	-15	-20	-11
Grade 6	-8	-11	-12	-12
Grade 7	-9	-6	-7	-7
Grade 8	-8	-9	-12	-10

*These national data are comprised of an aggregation of summative assessment data across multiple states and their respective analyses.

Smarter Balanced Results Opportunity Gaps 

Opportunity gaps refer to the ways in which race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, English proficiency, or other factors contribute to lower educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment for certain students. While variations in participation rates limit the comparability of data as the assessed students may not be a representative sample of the student population, highlighting differences in outcomes among student groups is critical to advancing equity. The Nevada Department of Education defines equity as the learning needs of every student are supported in an environment where all students are valued, respected, and see themselves in their curriculum and instructional materials while experiencing academic success without regard to differences in age, gender, socio-economic status, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, native language, national origin, or citizenship status.

2020-21 Proficiency Rates Disaggregated by Student Race/Ethnicity

Assessment	State	Asian American	Black/ African American	White	Hispanic/Latino	American Indian/ Alaska Native	Two or More Races	Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
ELA Grades 3-5	39.8	62.9	24.2	53.0	29.9	23.7	48.1	33.4
ELA Grades 6-8	43.4	68.4	26.7	54.7	33.2	28.6	52.2	43.5
Math Grades 3-5	28.2	52.3	11.9	42.0	18.1	13.3	34.9	23.6
Math Grades 6-8	23.9	50.2	9.4	33.8	14.9	10.8	29.8	21.8

2020-21 Proficiency Rates by Student Special Population

Assessment	State	Students with Disabilities	Students who are English Learners	Students who are eligible for Free-or-reduced-price lunch
ELA Elementary  (3-5)	39.8	14.9	10.3	31.4
ELA Middle  (6-8)	43.4	10.1	4.3	34.2
Math Elementary (3-5)	28.2	11.4	8.1	19.4
Math Middle  (6-8)	23.9	4.6	2.0	16.2

“I am grateful to the administrators and educators across the State who persevered to provide high-quality learning opportunities to students,” said Superintendent Ebert. “However, we cannot be satisfied until every single child has the equitable access and support they need in order to demonstrate proficiency, no matter who they are or where they attend school.” 

NDE is committed to leveraging federal relief funding to continue to support students’ social-emotional and academic development. Nevada’s American Rescue Plan Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) State Plan was approved by USED and includes details regarding investments in student and educator success.

Assessment performance data will be presented and discussed in further detail at the Nevada State Board of Education meeting on September 30, 2021 at 2:00 p.m.