CARSON CITY, Nev. – Today’s release of the Nevada School Performance Framework (NSPF) shows that 184 schools in the state increased their star rating by one or more stars since last year. This includes 34 schools that improved by two stars and three schools that improved by three stars:

• Triggs Elementary School in the Clark County School District improved from two stars to five stars.
• Hawthorne Elementary in the Mineral County School District and Hillside Elementary in the Storey County School District improved from one star to four stars.

The 2019 NSPF also includes 40 more Nevada schools that are rated three stars or higher for the 2018-19 school year as compared to the number of three star schools in the 2017-18 school year. Eleven more schools are rated five stars, 17 more schools are rated four stars and 12 more schools are rated three stars than in last year’s NSPF. Overall, 433 (60.2 percent) of the 719 rated schools received three stars or more. Star ratings are earned on a scale of one to five stars, with a one-star rating indicating that a school did not meet state performance standards while a five-star school is exceeding all expectations.

“This year’s star ratings demonstrate that we are moving in the right direction,” said Jhone Ebert, Superintendent of Public Instruction. “Our students and educators are making positive strides and, going forward, we must maintain these gains while accelerating our progress to ensure that all students have high-quality learning opportunities. The NSPF is an important tool to help us identify and begin to address gaps in our efforts to promote equity and keep our state trending upward.”

The NSPF star rating system was shaped by stakeholders from across the state and is designed to summarize the performance of a school based on multiple indicators and measures. Parents, students, educators and communities can use star ratings to understand how schools are performing and closely examine the indicators and measures that determine the ratings. Benefits of the NSPF include:

•  Highlighting successful schools so that proven practices can be scaled and replicated across the state;
•  Empowering stakeholders to become decision makers because they have more data available to them;
•  Driving continuous improvement through alignment to state performance goals; and
• Identifying opportunities for stakeholders to engage in conversations around student outcomes and school improvement.

Under the NSPF, indicators and measures are customized for the elementary, middle and high school levels. Schools earn points based on performance in each measure, which are added together to generate a score for each indicator. The results for each indicator are then added together to create a total Index Score, which is on a scale between 1 and 100. This Index Score corresponds to a star rating from one to five. The overview of Nevada’s School Rating System on the Department’s website provides information on all indicators and measures, the point earning potential of each and a description of each star rating.

Some of the measures that factor into a school’s star rating are included below:

Smarter Balanced Assessments

All grade levels demonstrated increased proficiency in in the state Smarter Balanced English Language Arts (ELA) compared to last year. Fifth graders had the highest level of ELA proficiency at 51.9 percent, followed by 7th graders at 49.9 percent, and 4th graders at 49.2 percent proficient. All grade levels improved in the state Smarter Balanced math assessment proficiency over last year, with the exception of 3rd grade which decreased proficiency by 0.44 percentage points. However, 3rd graders had the highest level of math proficiency at 47.8 percent. Fourth, sixth and seventh grades made the largest percentage point gains.

Science

Nevada high school students showed a 5.1 percentage-point improvement in science proficiency this year over 2017-18 results. Elementary students showed a 1.5 percentage-point improvement in science over 2017-18, while middle school students dropped 1.2 percentage points after a gain of 5.4 percentage points in science last year. Other highlights include:

• State Public Charter School Authority (SPCSA) schools had the highest science proficiency rate for 5th grade at 34.9 percent.
• Lincoln County School District made the highest gains at 11.8 percentage points over the previous year for 5th grade.
• For 8th grade science, Douglas County School District had the highest science proficiency rate at 46 percent, while Lincoln made the highest gains at 13.9 percentage points over the previous year.
• For 10th grade science, Pershing County School District had the highest science proficiency at 45.5 percent while Humboldt County School District made the highest gains with a 14.4 percentage-point increase over the previous year.
• Eureka County School District 5th graders had a 39.13 percent proficiency rate and their 8th graders had a 78.6 percent proficiency rate.
• Storey County School District 10th graders demonstrated a 54.8 percent proficiency rate.

Chronic Absenteeism

Chronic absenteeism decreased 0.7 percentage points statewide from last year to 18.81 percent. A total of 433 schools (53 percent) of schools across the state lowered their chronic absenteeism rates by at least 10 percent from last year.

Graduation Rate

Nevada high schools posted their highest graduation rate ever at 83.17 percent for the Class of 2018 – an increase of 2.32 percentage points. The Mineral County School District saw the greatest graduation rate gain, increasing 4.91 percentage points to 89.29 percent. The SPCSA saw an increase of 4.75 percentage points. Storey, Elko and Lincoln County School Districts all improved graduation rates by more than 3 percentage points. Clark County School District, Nevada’s largest district, increased graduation rates 2 percentage points to 85.22 percent.

Other Measures

Other Measures that factor into star ratings include English language proficiency among English Learners, high school readiness for 8th graders and college and career readiness for high school students, up-to-date academic learning plans for all students, and the ACT. The Department anticipates ACT results will be released in October.

School Designations

With the implementation of the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan, Nevada’s accountability system also includes three school-level designations – Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI), Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) and Additional Targeted Support and Improvement (ATSI), which is a subset of TSI-designated schools.

• The number of newly identified CSI schools fell from 55 in 2017-18 to 29 this year.
• There were nine schools newly identified as TSI schools, which is the same number of schools that were newly identified last year.
• There were 45 newly identified ATSI schools, compared to 104 newly identified last year.

Based on the ESSA plan, CSI schools are schools that meet one or more of the following criteria: 1) in the bottom 5 percent of performance of all schools; 2) one-star schools, and/or 3) high schools with graduation rates below 67 percent. Schools identified for TSI are schools with underperforming student groups who do not meet targets across multiple indicators for two consecutive years. Schools identified for ATSI are schools that meet TSI criteria and also have very low-performing student groups.