Feature

On the rise

Washoe is a better school district than statewide statistics might lead you to believe

by Dennis Myers • dennism@newsreview.com

When a recent study showed Nevada had clawed its way up from 50th to 49th in the nation in the quality of its schools, folks at the Washoe County School District knew what they would soon be facing. And they were right—most news coverage did not distinguish between state and county performance.

“Look at Washoe County and judge it on our own merits, rank us on our own, and we’ll be in the upper half,” Richard Jay of Reno wrote in a letter to the Reno GazetteJournal. “Washoe County is 15 percent of the student population, while Clark County is 51 percent. Looking at our SAT scores, Washoe County combined were 1670 compared to 1491 as the national average—11 percent higher. Our ACT scores were 25 compared to 21 as a national average—16 percent higher. Advanced placement exams: 56 percent of students took at least one AP exam, compared to the 33 percent national average; 34 percent of students passed at least one AP exam as compared to the 20 percent national average.”

The Washoe County School District received some more major awards this year—most recently, being named a “District on the Rise” by Education First, an education-improvement organization based in Seattle. It said the WCSD is “doing more with less,” which is just the message the district can use with a sales tax increase dedicated to school needs on the November ballot.

“The district directs its scarce resources to data-driven teaching and turning around low-performing schools,” the Education First report said. “The results: strong support among staff and community for reform—and achievement gaps that are closing.”

In recent years, the district has received awards for music instruction, and math and science instruction—the latter a presidential award. Washoe student Ella Breider is going to Wellesley after being named a national ACT semifinalist. Administrator Robert Sidford was recognized for blending technology instruction with academics.

There has even been non-academic recognition, such as an environmental award for less polluting buses and an administrative award for the district’s data system’s ease of access to student records.

And two school board members, Barbara McLaury and John Mayer, have received recognition for their work.

So for the school district, being grouped with the rest of the state is particularly exasperating when considering how far the district has come:

“Dropout Factories—that was the label given to nine out of 13 Washoe County high schools last fall [of 2007] by researchers with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Organization of Schools. These high schools have 40 percent fewer seniors than freshman. Researchers used enrollment data submitted by school districts to the U.S. Department of Education.” (“Will they graduate?” RN&R, Jan. 17, 2008).

By contrast, this year, three Washoe County School District high schools were placed among Nevada’s top 10 high schools by U.S. News and World Report. And the Washington Post named Wooster High first among Nevada public high schools for percentage of students who take and pass college level tests.

All this didn’t happen overnight. The district can’t drop a dime in a slot and get an award immediately. It has taken time, suggesting that the school board that was so demonized by the daily newspaper and community figures like Perry DiLoreto and Kathleen Sandoval did some things right.

Washoe schools superintendent Traci Davis: “For me, when people talk about the work here, I think that every superintendent and every group of board members brought something to the mission for kids. ...You see, long term, a commitment to what’s valuable for us to move this vision along and everybody brings something forward, right?”

Too much emphasis can be laid on awards, particularly national awards. And just as a state legislator last year asked why the University of Nevada, Reno needed more funding if it had reached “tier one” status without it, talking too much about the district’s accomplishments could lead voters to think the November ballot question is unnecessary.

Washoe teachers leader Dana Galvin said, “The district could get to the point where we don’t have full-time subs in the classroom.” Her predecessor as head of the Washoe Education Association, Natha Anderson, said, “If it does not pass we will be going to double session.”

That kind of argument can backfire because it sounds like a threat, as some school board members have acknowledged.

Why does the district need money if it is doing so well now?

To read the Education First analysis of the Washoe school district, go to http://tinyurl.com/jfggwe3

ON THE RISE continued on page 14

Desmos Graphing Calculator

Did you know that graphing calculators are used in classes ranging from pre-algebra to calculus—not to mention physics, biology, statistics and business courses? If we were conspiracy theorists we might be inclined to think that the folks at Texas Instruments—purveyors of the $150 TI-89 graphing calculator—had lobbyists pushing the graphing calculator on younger and younger demographics. Well, regardless, let’s have three cheers for disruptive technological innovations. The Desmos Graphing Calculator app is free, and it can totally plot polar, Cartesian and parametric graphs—whatever those are.

World Map Atlas 2016

This one’s probably best for the little kids—and maybe adults who snoozed during geography class. Its name may be long and awkward, but World Map Atlas 2016 is actually pretty well made. Its homescreen allows users to choose different tabs to scroll through lists of countries, rivers, peaks and wonders of the world. It’s also searchable. And in addition to pinpointing countries on a zoomable app, it has a variety of information on each country, including flags, population, average lifespan, GDP and a bunch of other stuff. Pop-up ads might be distracting, especially for youngsters, but the app doesn’t require a data connection to run (though you’ll want to update it every once in a while to ensure accuracy).

EasyBib

Bibliographies are time-consuming and, honestly, really frustrating to make. EasyvBib is a helpful tool for creating citations. It allows users to scan book barcodes and/or search books to create citations. Afterward, they can be exported to the user’s email. Plus, users can switch between more than 7,000 citation styles. Who even knew there were that many? Let’s see—there’s the Modern Language Association style manual, the American Psychological Association publication manual and the Chicago Manual of Style. Are we forgetting one? Oh, right—Associated Press style.

Wikipedia

That’s right—Wiki-freakin’-pedia. Yes, it’s got a bad rep as an unreliable source for academic research. And it is! You absolutely should not use the EasyBib app to cite it in your college papers. Nonetheless, Wikipedia is an excellent place to begin your research on pretty much any subject. That’s because it’s the most comprehensive reference work that human beings have ever created. According to the Wikipedia website, it has “more than 32 million articles in 280 languages.” And the Wikipedia app has plenty of cool features that make it worthwhile. For instance, users can organize articles into reading lists that can be accessed offline. On the off chance that you’re an avid RN&R reader who lives somewhere else in the world, you should be aware that there are currently mobile providers in 74 countries that don’t charge their customers data fees for using the Wikipedia app. If you’re here in the States, you should be rightfully put out that there are no providers that offer the same in the U.S.

StudyBlue Flashcards & Quizzes

There are dozens of flashcard apps—some free, others pay to play. StudyBlue is a good app for students of any age. The app allows users to create their own flashcards and notes, to which they can add images and audio. Classmates can have discussions and share flashcards between one another. It also has an offline mode that allows users to study when they don’t have access to Wi-Fi and don’t want to waste mobile data. Users have access to more than 350 million student-created flashcards on a variety of subjects, as well as content provided by universities and high schools. And, get this, there’s a potential recreational application hidden in there too—bartending flashcards. Study for that biology exam Thursday, but be sure to set aside time to beef up your knowledge on martini variations before Friday night. Ω