Monday, September 16, 2024

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Nevada’s third through eighth grade students showed gains in both mathematics and English Language Arts on the Smarter Balanced assessments.

The Nevada Department of Education has released performance results from the 2023-24 school year.

For a second consecutive year, all grade levels made improvements in mathematics proficiency. Additionally, all student groups made gains in mathematics last school year.

Overall, 32.6 percent of students demonstrated proficiency in mathematics – a 1.3 percentage-point increase compared with the 2022-23 school year.

In English Language Arts (ELA), the statewide proficiency rate was 41.3 percent – up 0.3 percentage points from the previous year.

“The proficiency results are encouraging and are a testament to the hard work and dedication of our students, educators, and families,” said Jhone Ebert, Superintendent of Public Instruction. “These results are moving in the right direction, and the Nevada Department of Education is committed to using this data to monitor academic performance to inform initiatives to improve student outcomes across our state.”

To view performance data for the state, school districts, and schools, visit the Nevada Report Card website at nevadareportcard.nv.gov.

Smarter Balanced Assessment In mathematics, students made gains in every student group by race/ethnicity, those who have a disability, English learners, and those who are economically disadvantaged.

The largest gains by race/ethnicity were among Asian students (2.2 percentage-point increase), and Black students (2.1 percentage-point increase).

Third graders had the highest level of mathematics proficiency at 43.2 percent, followed by fourth graders at 39.8 percent, and fifth graders at 31.8 percent.

In English Language Arts, students also made gains or proficiency levels remained steady for all student groups by race/ethnicity. The largest gain was among Black students, with a 1.3 percentage-point increase.

In February, Gov. Joe Lombardo and the Nevada Department of Education announced the allocation of $6 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds for Nevada’s Read by Grade 3 program.

This investment funds several projects that provide professional development to educators around the Science of Reading.

In English Language Arts, fifth graders demonstrated the highest level of proficiency at 45.3 percent, followed by fourth graders at 43.5 percent, and seventh graders at 42 percent. Students in grades three, six, seven, and eight experienced a decrease in proficiency in English Language Arts compared with the previous year.

Chronic Absenteeism

Statewide, the chronic absenteeism rate was 25.9 percent last school year – an improvement compared with 34.9 percent the previous year.

“This 9 percent improvement in the chronic absenteeism rate is a major accomplishment that reflects concerted efforts across our education system and community to ensure that students are in class learning,” Ebert said.

A total of 554 schools across the state (77 percent) lowered their chronic absenteeism rates and 416 schools (58 percent) lowered their rates by at least 10 percentage points.

Students are considered chronically absent when they miss 10 percent or more of school days.

Star Ratings

Under the Nevada School Performance Framework (NSPF) star ratings, the percentage of five- and four-star schools increased compared with the previous year.

The NSPF star rating system determines a school’s performance based on multiple measures, including the English Language Arts and mathematics Smarter Balanced assessments, science assessments, chronic absenteeism, graduation rate, and school designations.

Schools earn points for their performance in each measure. Results are added together for a total index score, ranging from one to 100. The index score corresponds to a star rating from one to five.

Table 1: Nevada Star Ratings - Three-Year Trend

	2018-19	2018-19	2022-23	2022-23	2023-2024	2023-2024
	Number of Schools	Percentage of Schools	Number of Schools	Percentage of Schools	Number of Schools	Percentage of Schools
5-Star	120	14.8%	85	9.8%	96	11.2%
4-Star	113	13.9%	79	9.2%	92	10.7%
3-Star	200	24.6%	179	20.7%	157	18.3%
2-Star	191	23.5%	195	22.6%	198	23.1%
1-Star	95	11.7%	223	25.8%	232	27.1%
Not-Rated*	93	11.5%	102	11.8%	82	9.6%
Grand Total	812	100.0%	863	100.0%	857	100.0%

*"Not-Rated" is for schools that lacked data in one or more measures required for receiving a star rating.

In total, 20 schools saw a two-star gain:

-Clark County School District: Lomie G. Heard Elementary School, Lee Antonello Elementary School, William & Mary Scherkenbach Elementary School, Crestwood Elementary School, Mack Lyon Middle School, and Jo Mackey Middle School

-Douglas County School District: Pinon Hills Elementary School and George Whittell High School

-Humboldt County School District: Orovada School and Winnemucca Grammar School

-Nye County School District: Amargosa Valley Middle School

-Washoe County School District: Lloyd Diedrichsen Elementary School

-State Public Charter School Authority: Legacy Traditional School Cadence, Legacy Traditional School Southwest Las Vegas, Sports Leadership and Management Academy, Mater Academy East, Pinecrest Academy of Nevada Cadence, Somerset Academy Lone Mountain, and Coral Academy Nellis AFB, and Nevada Rise Academy.

The Clark County School District saw its number of five-star schools remain steady and marked a 4.1 percentage-point increase in the number of four-star schools.

The Washoe County School District saw a 5.5-percentage point increase in its number of five-star schools.

Science Assessments

Nevada middle school students saw a 3.6 percentage-point gain in science compared with the 2022-23 school year.

High school students showed a 0.1 percentage-point decrease, while elementary school students had a 5.2 percentage-point decrease.

Other highlights:

• White Pine County School District made the largest gains at 4 percentage points over the previous year.

• For eighth grade science, Storey County School District had the highest proficiency rate at 67.9 percent. Esmeralda County made the largest gains at 25 percentage points over the previous year.

• Pershing County School District made the largest gains with a 15.2 percentage-point increase over the previous year.

Graduation Rate

Nevada’s high school graduation rate for the Class of 2023 decreased to 81.4 percent compared with 81.7 percent the previous year.

In 12 of Nevada’s 17 school districts, as well as the State Public Charter School Authority, students graduated at a higher rate than the state average.

Nine school districts showed increases in graduation rates, with Storey County School District showing the highest gain.

Other districts with year-to-year increases in graduation rates are Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Elko, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, and Mineral.

School Designations

The Nevada Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan describes the entrance and exit criteria for the three federal school-level designations for improvement: Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI), and Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI).

There is also a new school label of More Rigorous Interventions (MRI) for schools that have not exited CSI designation over the last four years.

• A total of 15 new schools were identified as CSI in 2024: nine elementary schools, two middle schools, and four high schools.

CSI schools are those in the bottom fifth percentile of Title I schools for all students or have a graduation rate of 67 percent or lower.

• A total of 85 schools were identified as TSI in 2024: 20 elementary schools, 53 middle schools, and 12 high schools.

TSI schools do not meet the criteria for CSI or ATSI but have one or more consistently underperforming student group.

• A total of 51 new schools were identified as ATSI in 2024: 36 elementary schools and 15 middle schools.

ATSI schools have one or more student groups that meet the criteria used to determine the bottom fifth percentile CSI designation.

• A total of 47 of the current CSI schools were identified as MRI in 2024.

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About the Nevada Department of Education

The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) leads and collaborates with Nevada’s 17 school districts and the State Public Charter School Authority to advance educational equity Statewide. With offices in Carson City and Las Vegas, NDE oversees all pre-K-12 education in the State, working to achieve its mission to improve student achievement and educator effectiveness by ensuring opportunities, facilitating learning, and promoting excellence. Under the leadership of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction, NDE impacts the achievement of nearly half a million children and 30,000 educators. Learn more at https://doe.nv.gov/ and join us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram.