Steve Canavero

CARSON CITY, Nev. – Gov. Brian Sandoval has issued a proclamation declaring the week of March 10 School Social Work Week in Nevada. The proclamation celebrates the progress that has been made since the creation of the Office for a Safe and Respectful Learning Environment within the Nevada Department of Education.

The 2015 Nevada Legislature passed Gov. Brian Sandoval’s sweeping education reform package that included 25 bills and an investment of $343 million to prepare students to meet the demands of the new Nevada economy.

The Nevada Department of Education on Thursday released the statewide cohort graduation rate for the class of 2016 with graduation among Carson City high school seniors seeing a 6 percent increase over 2015 figures. Lyon County saw a 6.6 percent increase, while Douglas County saw a slight decrease.

Minden Elementary School third-grade teacher Pam Ertel was named Nevada Teacher of the Year Friday afternoon.
The announcement was made in a surprise assembly at the school during which Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Canavero, Ph.D., were in attendance.

A chronic shortage of K-12 teachers isn’t just felt in Washoe and Clark counties, which feature Nevada’s two largest school districts.

The problem is statewide, even in Carson City.

The Nevada Department of Education has received a nearly $3.9 million competitive federal School Improvement grant to assist with significant reforms at Nevada’s underperforming Priority and Focus schools.

About $2.8 million in federal competitive grants is now available to increase the quality of public charter school education in Nevada.

CARSON CITY, Nev. – This week marked the end of Nevada’s online assessment window. More than 270,000 students successfully completed the Smarter Balanced and Science Grade 5 and 8 online assessments this year.

The Nevada Division of Tourism’s annual “Discover Your Nevada” program has officially kicked off with a new incentive for Nevadans to explore their state, Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison announced earlier this month. That incentive is a Field Trip Fund benefitting Silver State students.

The $10,000 four-year Dave Cook Memorial Scholarship has been established by the Elaine P. Wynn and Family Foundation in partnership with the Nevada Public Education Foundation for an incoming freshman pursuing an Education degree at a Nevada System of Higher Education institution beginning in fall 2016.

The Nevada Department of Education announced Wednesday it has secured a $100,000 grant to develop a detailed career readiness action plan, which is an essential step to expanding economic opportunity for young people across our state.

More than $14 million will be dispersed statewide to 20 schools awarded funding from the Nevada Ready 21 digital learning initiative, the Nevada Department of Education announced.

The Nevada Ready 21 program is pleased to announce the contract for the Nevada Department of Education’s one-to-one digital learning initiative has been awarded to CTL, a computer manufacturing company based in Beaverton, Oregon.

School districts in Carson City, Lyon and Douglas counties were among 11 statewide to receive grant money that will allow them to hire additional social workers and mental health professionals, the Nevada Department of Education announced Wednesday.

The Nevada Department of Education has awarded block grants to the neediest Nevada schools that will add a minimum of 161 social workers and other mental health professionals for immediate support of students in 132 schools statewide.

All eleven school districts that applied for the grant received funding, as well as six charter schools.

Assemblymen PK O'Neill kicked off his tenure as Carson City's elected representative in the State Assembly by sponsoring a 'symposium' on the Nevada Academic Content Standards (NACS) for English Language Arts and Mathematics.

What happened at the Common Core Forum in Carson City on 1/13/15

The ground rules agreed to by both sides for the two forums: two people would participate on each side of the issue. The pro side would contain two policy makers from either the Nevada Department of Education (NDE) or the Nevada State Board of Education; the con side would contain Drs. Stotsky and Milgram. Drs. Stotsky and Milgram were the only two members of Common Core’s Validation Committee who are content area specialists and who have also written high K-12 standards.

In a previous CarsonNow comment, Carson GOP Chair Maurice White called for Dr. Steve Canavero of the Nevada Department of Education to "be immediately dismissed for his public disrespectful conduct."

Now Peter Hennessey is calling James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky "widely known and respected experts on eduction standards."

On January 13, 2015, a symposium on Common Core was held in the Legislature Building. The participants were Professors James Milgram and Sandra Stotsky, both widely known and respected experts on eduction standards, who have actually participated in the development and validation of not only Common Core but also other standards before and since. The other side was represented by Steve Canavero of the Nevada Department of Education and Allan Grossman from the Washoe County School District.

Peter Hennessey, Ann Bedarski, Sandra Stotsky, James Milgram and the other anti-Common Core activists in attendance at PK O'Neill's symposium Tuesday night were there to stage a demonstration against the K-12 standards, which, it should be remembered, were adopted unanimously by the state board of education four years ago and enthusiastically signed off on by the Governor Gibbons.

The January 13th Common Core "symposium" at the legislature didn't go off quite as advertised. The announcement posted by organizer Ann Bedarski on the Nevada Trends website listed the Department of Education participants as:

JUDY OSGOOD, Public Information Officer, Nevada Department of Educa_on
STEVE CANAVERO, Deputy Superintendent of Student Achievement, NDE
AMY SALGO, Teacher Ambassador, NDE

Newly elected Assemblyman Phillip "PK" O’Neill, R-Carson City, will host a forum Tuesday in Carson City at the Legislative Building for lawmakers and citizens. The forum is being led by opponents of Common Core State Standards.

Citizens for Sound Academic Standards welcomes the public to participate in the program which it says it will present both sides of the issue. The Common Core State Standards Initiative is an educational initiative in the United States that details what K-12 students should know in English language arts and mathematics at the end of each grade.

CARSON CITY – Gov. Brian Sandoval described today’s first meeting of the Nevada State Public Charter School Authority as “historic,” and he called on the new group formed as a result of 2011 legislation to help expand charter schools to provide more choice to parents and students.

Sandoval spoke at the first meeting of the panel, one of only 10 in the country solely dedicated to the development and oversight of charter schools.

CARSON CITY – As National School Choice Week gets under way today state officials say Nevada school children have more opportunities than ever before to choose a school that works best for them.

But one element of choice, a school voucher program, remains an unrealized and divisive issue for the state’s policy makers.

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s charter school law was strengthened in 2011, seeing its ranking among the states moving to 20th from 23rd as a result, a national group reported this week.

Nevada’s overall score improved from 97 points to 111 out of a potential of 208 points in the report issued Tuesday by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.