New district would give students a chance

How long is too long for a school to fail in educating our kids before we finally do something about it? One year? Two years? More?

There are 78 schools in Nevada that have failed to meet state standards for three consecutive years. If you look closely at the list, you’ll see that some schools have been underperforming for even longer than that — for as long as a decade. It’s no surprise that Nevada sits in the bottom 10 percent of the country in graduation rates.

We need to do something now, and we need to do something that we know works. Right now, Nevada has that chance if our Legislature will put politics aside and pass Assembly Bill 448.

AB448 would create an innovative new district called the Achievement School District. Through the Achievement School District, the state is given the tools to make much-needed changes in our state’s lowest performing public schools and transform them into places where our kids will soar academically. Achievement School Districts are led by school turnaround experts who have a track record of success in providing kids access to a good education after being trapped in the worst schools.

The schools that would qualify for an Achievement School District are elementary and middle schools in the bottom 5 percent of schools in the state and high schools with graduation rates of less than 60 percent. Many of these schools have been consistently underperforming for three years or more and are failing to meet the needs of the students they serve. Three years stuck in a failing school means a child can go from kindergarten to third grade without learning how to read. Studies have shown that students who are unable to read by third grade have limited chance for success for the rest of their academic career. For parents who can’t afford to move to a new school district or pay for private school tuition, this is what they face, and as a society we know then that we have failed these children.

We have a clear idea of how an Achievement School District would work in Nevada because some other states have been creating similar districts with great success. After one was started in New Orleans, the number of eighth-grade students performing at grade level increased by nearly 40 percent. The amount of New Orleans students trapped in a failing school dropped from a majority of more than 60 percent to around 5 percent.

The critics who want to hold onto the failed status quo are quick to dismiss these success stories. They claim that New Orleans’ worst schools started performing better through a high rate of suspensions and expulsions, but in fact those rates have been going down while student achievement remains strong. Louisiana’s Recovery School District leads the state in student growth.

Under the Nevada proposal, chronically low-performing schools will be converted into charter schools. The state will put proven leaders in charge of these schools to take advantage of the innovation and stricter accountability of charters. We know that charter schools excel in reaching students who have been failed by traditional public schools. Studies show that low-income minority students tend to achieve better academic results in public charter schools than traditional public schools.

Some argue that Nevada’s public charter schools aren’t doing well enough to warrant adding more. When charter schools fail in Nevada, it’s usually because of a low-quality operator at the helm. With an Achievement School District overseeing new charter schools, the state will ensure that high-quality operators are in charge. Not to mention, the Legislature will be watching, studying closely as part of the increased accountability of the Achievement School District.

An Achievement School District is not a silver bullet to fix all of our problems. But what we have seen is that student achievement will rise when you add the rigorous standards and classroom innovation brought on by these special districts.

The status quo is not working. Too many of our children are finishing school unprepared for college or the workforce. With a majority of Nevada fourth- and eighth-grade students scoring below proficient levels in math and only about a third of them reading at grade level, doing nothing is not an option. The Republican Assembly is ready to do something we know works.

Paul Anderson, a Las Vegas Republican, represents District 13 in the Nevada Assembly and serves as the lower chamber’s majority leader.