lasvegassun.com | Find expanded coverage of the No Child Left Behind results released Thursday.
For the first time in five years, Robert Taylor Elementary SchoolÕs academic gains were enough to meet federal No Child Left Behind requirements.
Principal Janet Dobry couldnÕt be prouder of the schoolÕs teachers, staff and students, but she knows better than to promise a repeat performance.
In 2010 the state will raise the proficiency bar for students in all grades, with increases of 12Êpercentage points in elementary reading and writing. Under next yearÕs stricter requirements, TaylorÕs most recent test results wouldnÕt make the grade.
After two years of adequate progress, the district as a whole fell short this time. But there were standout examples such as Taylor, where nearly 80Êpercent of the students are minorities and more than two-thirds qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
This year 54.6Êpercent of TaylorÕs students met or exceeded the proficiency standard in reading and writing, up from 27Êpercent in 2004. And 59Êpercent of the students this year met or exceeded the proficiency standard for math, up from 39Êpercent in 2004.
Dobry attributed the improvements to several factors — help from a support team provided by the Nevada Education Department, a renewed focus on using test data to identify and help remedial students, and setting aside 45 minutes a day for reading.
The school also benefitted from moving into a brand-new building in Henderson equipped with the latest classroom technology, including interactive display boards and voice amplifiers for the teachers.
ÒEverything is so fresh and bright,Ó Dobry said. ÒFor most of our kids, this is nicer than anywhere else theyÕve ever gotten to go to school.Ó
The Clark County School DistrictÕs experiment in single-sex education is being watched with interest by a number of researchers, including University of Nevada, Reno, associate professor Margaret Ferrara.
Clark CountyÕs single-sex education program is based on the premise that brain development of boys and girls differs to such a degree that they need to be taught in different ways in classroom settings tailored to their needs.
Ferrara, who teaches in the College of Education, is working with Clark County teachers and administrators on research tools that will help them track student progress. She has also developed a questionnaire to help teachers determine whether they are best suited to leading boys-only or girls-only classrooms.
For the 2008-09 academic year, there were 14 Clark County campuses offering single-sex classrooms. At some schools the separate classes were offered only in one or two subjects, such as reading and mathematics. At two elementary schools — Diaz and Cortez — the program is under way campuswide.
The Clark County School DistrictÕs recommended summer reading list for high school students is arguably a downer — a boy soldierÕs memoir of mass slaughter in the Sierra Leone; a Chinese girlÕs tale of suffering in the extreme poverty of her rural village; two books about eating disorders.
The nonfiction list includes ÒA Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,Ó and ÒThe Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese School Girl.Ó Also on the list are ÒInside Out: Portrait of an Eating Disorder,Ó which details the authorÕs battle with bulimia, and ÒThin,Ó a documentarianÕs photo essays of young women at an inpatient clinic in Florida.
Of the listÕs six books, one, ÒBlue Lipstick — Concrete Poems,Ó is upbeat, although itÕs not really nonfiction. It follows the adventures of a 15-year-old girl through text and graphics.
The books were selected to represent a broad range of genres and topics, said Diane Reitz, the districtÕs literacy director. All of the titles received positive reviews from the American Library Association and most have also been recommended specifically for high school students by School Library Journal, she said.
Though the topics on the districtÕs nonfiction list might be considered heavy reading, Òthose are the kinds of books kids are interested in,Ó Cassandra Barnett, president of the American Association of School Librarians, told the Sun. ÒThey want to read about real issues that are happening in the world, and they are very curious about how the young characters respond to the situations.Ó
Emily Richmond can be
reached at 259-8829 or at
emily@lasvegassun.com.
Copyright 2009  Las Vegas Sun
