Educational effort includes Nye County

Results for America recently released a case study about evidence-based work conducted by the Nevada Department of Education in the Nye and Humboldt County School Districts.

“We are proud that Results for America chose to highlight the Nevada Department of Education’s work in the implementation of data-based decision making aligned to evidence-based practices,” Jhone Ebert, Nevada superintendent of public instruction said in a statement. “We know that implementing proven interventions in schools and systems improves outcomes for students at an accelerated pace. We look forward to continuing our work to support all of Nevada’s districts in replicating the success that we’ve seen in Humboldt in Nye.”

Results for America’s report on Nevada entitled Once Evidence Skeptics, Now Evidence Champions, is a comprehensive case study detailing the Nevada Department of Education’s efforts to seize the opportunity presented by the Every Student Succeeds Act to prioritize data and evidence in decisions that matter for students across the state.

The case study features work in two Nevada school districts – Nye and Humboldt – and tells the story of early impact for students in those districts, the Nevada Department of Education said in a Nov. 26 news release from Carson City.

“Nye County School District has been very fortunate to have a great relationship with the leadership of the Nevada Department of Education,” Dale Norton, Nye County School District superintendent, said in a statement. “Through partnerships and leadership our district’s students, staff and communities have grown much closer with a shift to a whole learning model. Without this support and professional guidance building capacity would be almost impossible.”

The study highlighted leadership and grant writing training in Nye County and a dramatic increase in third-grade reading proficiency at Grass Valley Elementary School in Humboldt County.

“Although Humboldt began as a skeptic of the requirement of ensuring ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) evidence-based practices and/or companies were part of the competitive grant applications, we have changed from skeptics to champions of this model,” said Dave Jensen, Humboldt County School District superintendent.

“The initial support the state team provided along with our willingness to be vulnerable and expose our areas of inequities while working with our evidence-based thought partner ANet (education non-profit) is already paying off with positive academic gains for our students.”