Urban high schools fall short in their reach for five stars

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Not one comprehensive urban high school earned five stars under Clark County School District’s new ranking system, the School Performance Framework, released Thursday.

The framework evaluates these schools on a curve because, unlike magnet and career and technical academies, they don’t select their students. Even with scores given a 10 percent boost under the system’s formula, none made the five-star cut. The top ranking requires them to earn 80 out of 100 possible points for student achievement and for meeting the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The Clark County School Board unanimously adopted the high school ranking system Thursday night.

The lack of five-star urban high schools wasn’t a surprise to teacher Steve Lawson and Principal Tammy Boffelli. They represent the two kinds of high schools earning five stars: rural and specialty schools. Fourteen of those district schools earned five stars. Representatives from five-star campuses celebrated the achievement by going indoor sky diving Thursday afternoon.

"I have a friend at Arbor View (High School in Las Vegas) who teaches as many kids in one class as I do in two," said Lawson, the only science teacher at Indian Springs High School, 50 miles northwest of Las Vegas, shortly before donning his sky diving suit.

His classroom consists of about 15 students at a time. "That makes all the difference."

Boffelli, principal of Veterans Tribute Career and Technical Academy, on Vegas Drive near Rancho Drive, acknowledged schools like hers have an advantage.

"Career and technical schools have students who are driven," she said. She added that such students also carry a heavier load than their peers at regular high schools because they have to take courses in their disciplines – public safety, aviation, medicine and more – on top of required courses. "Students usually want to know, ‘When am I even going to use this?’ "

In academies, students know what they’re learning is applicable to their future careers.

So, what holds back urban comprehensive schools from attaining five stars when their scores are being bolstered to even the playing field? Superintendent Dwight Jones is now asking what can be done to increase achievement at the district’s big schools.

Questions like that are at the heart of the framework, which puts schools’ successes and failures in the public eye, Jones said.

The framework wasn’t rigged to make it easy for schools to emerge on top, he said. Nine of the district’s 49 high schools netted four stars, meaning they earned at least 65 points. Twelve earned three stars, 10 earned two stars and three earned one star.

"No excuses," Jones said. "Folks, this is a new day in Clark County School District."

A similar framework is planned to replace No Child Left Behind as the state’s measure of progress at all Nevada schools.

High schools struggle to meet the five-star criteria for a simple reason, said district Deputy Superintendent Pedro Martinez, who was not surprised by the lack of top-ranking, comprehensive high schools.

"The reality is too many students are starting high school behind," he said. "Students aren’t ready for high school and have to be put in remedial classes."

Middle school rankings, released three months ago along with elementary school rankings, foreshadowed the lack of five-star high schools. Thirty-seven elementary schools earned five stars but not one middle school reached the top tier, meaning students are starting on track but falling behind in middle school, Martinez said.

To improve low-performing schools, Jones said extra resources will be provided to one- and two-star schools. These schools will have first pick of new teachers and be the first chosen in professional development training for 8,000 of the district’s 18,000 teachers this summer.

But resources must not be taken from already high-performing schools, Jones said.

For the next school year, low-ranking schools won’t be punished in any way because change takes time, he said. But they only get a pass for one year.

High school principals said they are on board, something made evident in their unified showing at the Thursday morning unveiling of the new grading system.

"This is a new beginning for our school," said Cimarron-Memorial High School Principal Joe Caruso, whose school earned one star. "Failure is not an option. We’re all in."

Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.