Here’s how the state graded Clark County schools

Academic proficiency levels are edging toward pre-pandemic rates, fewer students are frequently absent, and charter schools are generally outperforming regular schools, according to data from the Nevada Department of Education.

The department released its Nevada Report Card this month, and it provides administrators, teachers and parents with a wealth of data relating to schools across the state.

Jesse Welsh, deputy superintendent of teaching and learning, is scheduled to discuss some of the Report Card’s findings at Thursday’s Clark County School Board meeting.

Here are takeaways from the report card:

2024-2025 school year average star ratings

— Charter elementary schools: 3.77 out of 5.

— Charter middle schools: 3.92 out of 5.

— Charter high schools: 4.07 out of 5.

— Regular elementary schools: 2.59 out of 5.

— Regular middle schools: 2.68 out of 5.

— Regular high schools: 3.50 out of 5.

State data shows that charter schools in Clark County, on average, outperformed regular schools at all grade levels last academic year.

The Nevada Department of Education assigns schools a one through five star rating based on performance measures like graduation rates, chronic absenteeism rates and scores on English Language Arts, math and science assessments.

Stronger charter school performance has been cited as one of many reasons for the surge in charter school enrollments since 2020 that has contributed to the school district’s declining enrollment.

Valeria Gurr, senior fellow at the American Federation for Children and a school choice advocate, said she believes charter schools tend to have stronger academic performances because teachers have more latitude to try non-traditional teaching methods, such as incorporating AI into lessons.

“If something is not working, they have flexibility to change it quickly, unlike the traditional public schools that have to go through more rules and regulations,” Gurr said. “We have a lot to learn from charter schools, and that shows that we could have stronger schools if we were all learning from these different options.”

Countywide, schools broadly saw increased proficiency in English Language Arts and math at all grade levels.

English Language Arts proficiency

— Elementary schools: 2024-2025. 45.6 percent; 2023-2024, 42.2 percent.

— Middle schools: 2024-2025, 42.9 percent; 2023-2024, 37.8 percent.

— High schools: 2024-2025, 48.9 percent; 2023-2024, 46.6 percent.

Mathematics proficiency

— Elementary schools: 2024-2025, 39.6 percent; 2023-2024, 36.7 percent.

— Middle schools: 2024-2025, 27.4 percent; 2023-2024, 24.9 percent.

— High schools: 2024-2025, 21.1 percent; 2023-2024, 19.4 percent.

Clark County schools still remain between two to four points behind pre-pandemic subject proficiency at all grade levels except in high school English Language Arts. Clark County also remains slightly behind statewide proficiency rates in most areas, with exceptions in high school English Language Arts and math proficiency.

Superintendent Jhone Ebert attributed the county’s academic improvements to effective teachers and the school district’s use of “high-quality instructional materials.”

“Student success is our core focus as we become the Destination District,” Ebert said. “Although there is more work to be done, these results demonstrate that investments made in public education are working.”

Enrolled students showed up to school more often last academic year than in the year prior, state data shows.

Chronic absenteeism rates

— 2023-2024: 31.3 percent

— 2024-2025: 26.9 percent

The state Department of Education labels a student as chronically absent if they miss 10 percent or more of their enrolled school days for any reason. This equates to about 18 days absent at most schools in the district.

The reasons for students becoming chronically absent range from mental health struggles to economic barriers, according to Christopher Kearney, distinguished professor and chair of UNLV’s psychology department.

When students are chronically absent, he said, they perform worse academically and struggle to develop strong social functioning due to fewer in-school friendships. Kearney said this effect accumulates the longer a student is out of the classroom.

“If you have absenteeism as an elementary school student, and then it sort of snowballs more into middle school, then you’re at more risk for dropout in high school,” Kearney said. “And if you’re absent from school in the elementary school grades, you’re not learning a lot of the fundamental skills, so when you go to middle school, then you’re falling farther behind, so you get more disengaged and you’re more likely to miss school.”

Kearney said that after the pandemic brought a renewed focus to student mental health, rates of depression and suicidality among students have decreased, coinciding with less chronic absenteeism.

The number of reported bullying and cyberbullying incidents remained roughly the same between the last two school years. The same was true for the number of suspensions and expulsions related to bullying and cyberbullying.

Reported incidents of bullying

— 2023-2024: 8,214.

— 2024-2025: 8,110.

Reported incidents of cyberbullying

— 2023-2024: 880.

— 2024-2025: 874.

There was a sharp decrease in violent incidents at Clark County schools last academic year, down to about 5,600 from the roughly 7,000 reported incidents in the year prior. However, reported instances of race-based discrimination rose to 3,357 in 2024-2025 from 3,059 in 2023-2024, a nearly 10 percent increase.

Contact Spencer Levering at slevering@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0253.