This Las Vegas high school has a new fan in Colorado’s governor
Nevada consistently ranks low for its education system, but an initiative from the National Governors Association focused on finding new ways to measure success might rate Nevada’s education higher with career readiness as a metric.
Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, chair of the National Governors Association, toured the Southeast Career Technical Academy in Las Vegas on Wednesday, where he learned about the school’s majors, from culinary to advanced manufacturing. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo was scheduled to join him, but his staff said he was no longer able to attend, and he was unable to provide a comment.
The school visit took place as part of the national Let’s Get Ready initiative Polis launched this year as a way to help governors develop education policies that improve student outcomes and get them ready to join the workforce.
“With the National Governors Association as chair, my focus is really successful outcomes for students,” Polis said during a press interview Wednesday at the school. “How can we make sure that when kids graduate high school, there’s a skill that’s marketable?”
The Southeast Career Technical Academy is doing that work, Polis said, by teaching students skills for industries so they will be able to enter the workforce directly or decide to go to college.
Polis observed how students learn how to build robots, to run a restaurant and to weld, going from room to room at the school.
“These are students that are getting skills that if they choose to go into these areas, there’s jobs ready today for them,” Polis said. “And many of them are good paying jobs, whether it’s construction, whether it’s culinary. There’s a need right away that aligns directly with the skills they got in high school.”
Based on what’s learned from the initiative, the association will release guidance to support states to drive innovation and improve capacity to measure success in schools. Governors can examine “outcome-based measures” like skills-based learning, work-based learning apprenticeships and early literacy, according to the association.
Colorado is ranked No. 5 in the U.S. News &World Report on education. It depends, however, on what the metrics of success are, Polis said. When it comes to career readiness, Nevada rates better than Colorado. Test scores are important, but having a skill that lets you get a successful career and earn a good living is “also a huge win,” he said.
“So let’s make sure we count that, too,” Polis said.
The graduation rate for students across the state in career and technical education is almost 97 percent, according to Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert. The statewide high school graduation rate for the Class of 2024 was 81.6 percent, according to the Nevada Department of Education.
“So if we know that that is working, why isn’t it happening across all of our schools?” Ebert said during a press interview. “That’s what the governor wants to see.”
Mathematics skills are measured and put on report cards, but skill sets such as communication, collaboration and empathy are not measured, and Nevada is moving toward measuring those “durable skills,” Ebert said.
“We want to be able to have them measurable, so that we can clearly articulate that our students have those skills and that they can go into the workforce, into the military, directly into college, and the student themselves has an idea of where they’re at and where they can improve as well,” Ebert said.
Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.