National test data show Nevada students still lagging behind, but there are bright spots

Newly released national testing data show Nevada still has work to do to get its students on par with the rest of the United States, but the results do reveal some bright spots.

Results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a national test administered by an arm of the U.S. Department of Education, shows that Nevada is still trailing the national averages in math and reading.

“These results are telling us two things,” Nevada Deputy Superintendent Brett Barley told reporters on a Monday press call. “One, we still have a long way to go as a state to make sure all students are achieving at the level that we know they are capable of, but there’s also some really good news in this report.”

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Barley pointed to measurable gains in average test scores posted by the state’s Hispanic and black students.

Ninety-three Nevada middle schools and 128 elementary schools participated in the 2017 test, but the results are not broken down by school or school district performance.

Hispanic students, who according to the Nevada Department of Education make up the largest ethnic group in the state’s schools, made the most significant gains since the test was last administered in 2015.

Nevada's Hispanic students carried the torch in this year's results, raising their test scores so that they now match, closely follow or slightly exceed the national averages in academic performance across all categories and grade levels tested.

The state’s black students in fourth grade raised their scores to surpass the national average of 20 percent proficiency in reading by one point, according to a Nevada Department of Education press release.

The test is administered to fourth and eighth-grade students on the subjects of math and reading.

“Our takeaway at the (Nevada Department of Education), looking at some of these results, is that it says a lot about the investments that the Legislature and the governor have made since 2015 … to provide high quality learning environments for high poverty and English-learner students,” Barley said.

Gov. Brian Sandoval and the Nevada Legislature made education a priority during the 2015 legislative session. Programs targeting some of the state’s more vulnerable students, such as those still learning English or who are living in poverty, were born out of the 2015 session.

The assessments, which are identical for all students in the U.S., are considered a national benchmark of academic performance.

The results of the tests help the U.S. Department of Education determine how it should be doling out federal funding.

But this year’s overall results — both nationally and here in Nevada — remained relatively flat or fell slightly in 2017.