Local Public Schools Struggle to Make the Grade - Nevada Report Card Released This Week

Nevada Department of Education has announced the performance results from the 2023-24 school year, including scores that measure English Language Arts and Math proficiency. While the state touted Nevada's third through eighth graders as showing gains in math and English, Churchill's results remain dismal.

Churchill Elementary students did increase ELA proficiency from 32.7% to 33.3% of the students proficient, however, Middle Schoolers dropped from 30.9% proficient to 25.9%, and the High School students decreased from 48.8% to 37.6% proficient in ELA. 

Again, elementary math students showed a slight gain from 27.7% proficient to 28.5%, with middle school students dropping from 15.6% to only 11.8% proficient in math. The high school students went from 19% to 13.6% proficient in math. 

Derild Parsons, Superintendent of Churchill County School District, says the district takes accountability seriously and strives to increase student performance. "During this past year, we adopted a new curriculum for English Language Arts and fully implemented a math curriculum in grades K-8. We expect that these initiatives, coupled with other things we are doing, will see a turnaround in our test scores. These are all part of our dedication to developing life-ready learners," Parsons said.

Oasis Academy, which falls under the State Public Charter School Authority, came in with 59% of their elementary students proficient in ELA, 63% of the middle school students, and 68% of the high school students proficient. Math scores show 58% of elementary, 55.1% of middle school students, and 32% of high school students proficient.

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. 

Churchill County School District serves 3,283 students in seven schools with 185 teachers. The Graduation Rate is 84.16%, and there is a 31.1% Chronic Absenteeism Rate. 

"Within the data, we should also acknowledge the 4-year cohort graduation rate of 84.2% is a 4.4% increase from the previous school year," Parsons said. "As a district superintendent, I am engaged in work with the Nevada Department of Education to develop a system of accountability that better reflects our schools and the performance of our students."

Oasis Academy serves 770 students with a 24:1 student-teacher ratio and has a greater than 95% Graduation Rate with a 15% Chronic Absenteeism Rate.  

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

District School Ratings show Numa Elementary at One Star, the Middle School at One Star, and the High School at Two Stars, scoring 26.8, 17, and 42.5 total index scores, respectively. Neither E.C. Best nor Lahontan Elementary were ranked.

Oasis Academy Elementary students ranked at Four Stars with a 68 total index score, the middle school students earned Five Stars with a 95 Index Score, and Oasis High School earned Five Stars with an 89.4 index score.

Schools receive points based on student performance across various Indicators and Measures, including Academic Achievement, English Language Proficiency, Student Engagement, Growth Indicators, Graduation Rates, and College and Career Readiness. Points are indexed from 1 – 100 and associated with a one to five school rating. Schools that lack data in one or more measures are not rated. 

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). 

ATSI schools have one or more student groups that meet the criteria for determining the bottom fifth percentile CSI designation. 

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

Churchill County Middle School was identified as an ATSI school in 2023 with a one-star rating and an index score of 17. 

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

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

Numa Elementary was identified as meeting the TSI criteria and ranked One Star with an index score of 26.8.

"The Accountability Report may look dismal, but I am confident that we have many good things going in Churchill County and these scores will improve.  I also know that future accountability measures reflecting a wider aspect of what we do in our schools will paint a more accurate depiction of who the district is and what we do," Parsons said.