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For more than two decades, tax-credit scholarship (TCS) policies have helped American families provide their children with the learning environment that meets their individual needs. Now available in 19 states, nearly 300,000 students nationwide use tax-credit scholarships to attend the school of their family's choice. TCS policies create an incentive for taxpayers to contribute to nonprofit scholarship organizations that aid families with tuition and, in some states, other K-12 educational expenses. As with other policies, their ultimate success or failure depends greatly on how they are designed. This paper explores the central design features of TCS policies--such as eligibility, the tax credit value, credit caps, and academic accountability provisions--and outlines the different approaches taken by the TCS policies in each state. The paper also offers suggestions regarding each feature for policymakers who want to design a TCS policy that most likely to succeed at its central purpose: empowering families to provide their children with the education that works best for them. To that end, the paper recommends designing each policy element in such a way that they maximize the incentive that taxpayers have to contribute to scholarship organizations, maximize the number of families that can benefit from the scholarships, and maximize the freedom and flexibility that scholarship organizations have to serve those families. A summary of these suggestions can be found in the conclusion. Finally, the appendix offers policymakers a wide variety of additional resources, including model legislation, parent satisfaction and public opinion surveys, research of fiscal effects, various policy briefs on tax-credit scholarships, information about the constitutional landscape, and public relations resources. [Introduction by Theodor Rebarber. Foreword by Kendra Espinoza.]

The "Nevada K-12 & School Choice Survey" project, commissioned by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice and conducted by Braun Research, Inc. (BRI), measures Nevada registered voters' familiarity and views on a range of K-12 education topics and school choice reforms. The author and his colleagues report response levels and differences of voter opinion, as well as the intensity of those responses. Where do Nevadans stand on important issues and policy proposals in K-12 education? A randomly selected and statistically representative sample of Nevada voters responded to more than 20 substantive questions and items, as well as six demographic questions. This project also included two split-sample experiments. A split-sample design is a systematic way of comparing the effects of two or more alternative wordings for a given question. The purpose of the experiment was to see if providing a new piece of information about education can significantly influence opinion on salient issues in state politics and education policy discussions. This polling paper has four sections: (1) a summary of key findings; (2) "Survey Snapshots," which offers charts highlighting the core findings of the project; (3) the survey's methodology, which summarizes response statistics, and presents additional technical information on call dispositions for landline and cell phone interviews; and (4) the survey questions and results ("topline numbers"), allowing the reader to follow the interview as it was conducted, with respect to question wording and ordering.

The Nevada Writing Assessment Program has been developed, implemented, and facilitated by Nevada classroom teachers, who have adapted, designed, and continually revised the scoring criteria; designed the assessment writing prompts; evaluated and chosen anchor papers; led the scoring sessions and read and scored the student papers; and made the classroom connections from assessment to instruction in order to improve student writing. Types of writing measured and their real world uses are: Narrative writing tells a story by sharing details of an experience; Expository writing instructs, gives information, or explains something about a topic; Persuasive writing gives a writer's opinion of a topic and tries to get the reader to agree; and Descriptive writing describes a person, place, thing, or idea. The Nevada Writing Assessment Program uses two types of direct writing assessment: holistic and analytic trait scoring. This guide is divided into the following sections: Introduction; Background and Purposes of Assessment; Scoring Rubrics; Eleventh Grade Sample Papers; Twelfth Grade Sample Papers; Eighth Grade Sample Papers; Fourth Grade Sample Papers; Writing for Assessment Tips; Trait Bookmarks for Classroom Use; Resources for Writing Teachers; and References for Writing Assessments. (NKA)

Annually, ACT provides each state with "The Condition of College & Career Readiness," a report that details the college readiness of students who took the ACT[R] test. This report is a companion to "The Condition of College & Career Readiness." This paper traces the college enrollment, retention, re-enrollment, and migration patterns of the 2010 ACT-tested high school graduates in the state of Nevada. It also provides a snapshot of the impact that benchmark-meeting behavior has on those patterns and, ultimately, on success in college. ACT's research on the knowledge and skills necessary for success in college courses resulted in the establishment of ACT's College Readiness Benchmarks. These benchmarks are ACT subject area scores that represent the level of achievement required for students to have a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75% chance of earning a C or higher in corresponding credit-bearing first-year college courses. The report also provides recommendations for policymakers and retention recommendations for institutional practice. (Contains 4 footnotes.) [For related report, "The Condition of College & Career Readiness, 2012," see ED534761.]

This annual report updates the tuition and fee prices published by all of the public higher education institutions in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) member states. It is the product of an annual survey administered to the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) offices in each state, with a couple of exceptions. There is no centralized coordinating or governing body for the two-year colleges in Arizona or for the technical institutes in South Dakota. Therefore, personnel at the individual institutions in those two states responded to this survey. Beginning with the 2010-2011 and continuing this year, this report presents published tuition and fees amounts as averages both unweighted and weighted by full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollments. Unlike unweighted averages, which treat each institution equally no matter how big or small it is, enrollment-weighted averages provide a truer estimate of the published price a typical student faces based on enrollment patterns. Appended are: (1) The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2010; (2) Number of Public Four-Year Institutions by Carnegie Classification in the WICHE Region, 2011-12; (3) Number of Public Two-Year Institutions by State in the WICHE Region, 2011-12; (4) Procedure for Converting Current Dollars to Constant Dollars; (5) Methodology; (6) Survey Instructions; (7) Mandatory Fees at Public Two-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; (8) Mandatory Fees at Public Four-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; (9) Undergraduate FTE Four-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; (10) Graduate FTE Four-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; and (11) Undergraduate FTE Two-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region. (Contains 21 tables and 68 endnotes.) [This paper was prepared by the Office of Policy Analysis and Research. For "Tuition & Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, 2010-2011. Detailed Tuition and Fees Tables," see ED539047.]

Board policy provides that in the fall of every even-numbered year, the Chancellor's Office shall compile a System report on faculty workloads at the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) institutions. Faculty workload is collected from the campuses in two parts: (1) in-class instructional data originating from workload databases and validated by department heads; and (2) out-of-classroom data collected at the individual faculty or department level and validated by department heads. This paper reports the faculty workloads at NSHE institutions 2010. Faculty Workload Guidelines ("Title 4, Chapter 3, Section 3") is appended.

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Nevada for 2010. In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), Nevada showed across-the-board gains--improvements in both reading and math at the basic, proficient and advanced levels for all racial/ethnic subgroups, low income students, and boys and girls. Achievement gaps between students in these subgroups and their white and non-low income peers narrowed. Comparable data were available from 2006 through 2009 for grade 4, and from 2004 through 2009 for grade 8 and high school. (Contains 9 tables.) [For the main report, "State Test Score Trends through 2008-09, Part 2: Slow and Uneven Progress in Narrowing Gaps", see ED513914.]

This annual report updates the tuition and fee prices published by all of the public higher education institutions in the WICHE (Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education) member states. It is the product of an annual survey administered to the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) offices in each state, with a couple of exceptions. There is no centralized coordinating or governing body for the two-year colleges in Arizona or for the technical institutes in South Dakota. Therefore, personnel at the individual institutions in those two states responded to this survey. In response to feedback from WICHE constituents, this year's edition incorporates three significant changes: 1) the addition of enrollment-weighted tuition and fee averages by state; 2) the ability to download all data tables in excel format, most notably the tables that show each institutions' tuition and fees charges; and 3) a reduction in the total number of data tables to eliminate redundancy and streamline the report. Unlike unweighted tuition and fee averages, which treat each institution equally no matter how big or small it is, enrollment-weighted averages provide a truer estimate of the published price an average student faces based on enrollment patterns. Appended are: (1) The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2005; (2) Number of Public Four-Year Institutions by Carnegie Classification in the WICHE Region, 2010-11; (3) Number of Public Two-Year Institutions by State in the WICHE Region, 2010-11; (4) Procedure for Converting Current Dollars To Constant Dollars; (5) Methodology; (6) Survey Instructions; (7) Mandatory Fees at Public Two-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; (8) Mandatory Fees at Public Four-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; (9) Undergraduate FTE Four-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; (10) Graduate FTE Four-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region; and (11) Undergraduate FTE Two-Year Institutions in the WICHE Region. (Contains 20 tables and 73 endnotes.) [This paper was prepared by the Office of Policy Analysis and Research. For "Tuition and Fees in Public Higher Education in the West, 2009-2010. Detailed Tuition and Fees Tables," see ED508995.]

The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook" goals and recommendations. State teacher policy addresses a great many areas, including teacher preparation, certification, evaluation and compensation. With so many moving parts, it may be difficult for states to find a starting point on the road to reform. To this end, this paper provides a state-specific road map, organized in three main sections. Section 1 identifies policy concerns that need critical attention, the areas of highest priority for state policymakers. Section 2 outlines "low-hanging fruit," policy changes that can be implemented in relatively short order. Section 3 offers a short discussion of some longer-term systemic issues that states need to make sure stay on the radar. In the 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook", Nevada had the following grades: (1) Delivering Well Prepared Teachers (D-); (2) Expanding the Teaching Pool (D-); (3) Identifying Effective Teachers (D-); (4) Retaining Effective Teachers (D); and (5) Exiting Ineffective Teachers (D+). Nevada has an overall grade of D- for 2009. In the last year, many states made significant changes to their teacher policies, spurred in many cases by the Race to the Top competition. Based on a review of state legislation, rules and regulations, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has identified a recent policy change in Nevada. Nevada has lifted its teacher-student data firewall, which prevented the use of achievement data in teacher evaluations. However, test scores cannot be the sole criterion for evaluating teachers. States were asked to review NCTQ's identified updates and also to comment on policy changes that have occurred in the last year, other pending changes or teacher quality in the state more generally. Nevada confirmed that the identified update represents a complete and accurate list of recent policy changes. Individual sections contain footnotes. (Contains 5 figures.) [For the related reports, see "Blueprint for Change: National Summary. State Teacher Policy Yearbook, 2010" (ED515614) and "State Teacher Policy Yearbook, 2009. Nevada" (ED511932).]

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between these groups at the proficient level across three grades (grade 4, grade 8 in most cases, and a high school grade). These two types of analyses show whether elementary school achievement has generally gone up for different groups of students and whether achievement gaps at different grade levels have narrowed, widened, or stayed the same. This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Nevada. A clear trend of gains at the proficient level in grade 4 reading and math was evident for most of the student groups analyzed. In most instances, achievement gaps between subgroups narrowed at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. (Contains 9 tables.) [For the main report, "State Test Score Trends through 2007-08, Part 3: Are Achievement Gaps Closing and Is Achievement Rising for All?", see ED507909.]

Since the 2003-04 school year, Save the Children, U.S. Programs, has supported programming designed to improve reading skills among struggling students in rural areas. The literacy program includes both afterschool and in-school interventions with small groups of children. These are implemented by well-trained paraprofessionals and are designed to provide a range of activities aimed at increasing literacy achievement. During the 2008-09 school year, Save the Children selected 118 sites in rural communities to implement its reading initiative. Twenty of the 118 sites continued to offer literacy programming begun in 2003-04 or 2004-05, fifty-one began operating during 2005-2006 or 2006-07, 19 during 2007-08, and 26 sites operated for the first time in 2008-09. Services at the 118 local sites included the delivery of integrated in-school and afterschool literacy activities for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. This paper presents the key findings from this analysis. A more detailed explanation of normal curve equivalent (NCE) scores is appended. (Contains 27 exhibits and 6 footnotes.) [This report was prepared for Save the Children, U.S. Programs.]

The standards in this document are for digital video and broadcast production programs and are designed to clearly state what the student should know and be able to do upon completion of an advanced high-school program. Digital Video and Broadcast Production is a program that consists of the initial fundamentals and sequential courses that prepare students for most occupations in the field of video and broadcast production. The content and performance standards in this document support the development of knowledge and skills recognized as essential to the industry. The overall program focuses on broad, transferable skills and stresses understanding and demonstration of the major elements of the video and broadcast production industry, including planning, management, finance, technical and product skills, and underlying principles of technology, labor issues, community issues and health, safety, and environmental issues. The standards are organized as follows: Content Standards are general statements that identify major areas of knowledge, understanding, and skills students are expected to learn in key subject and career areas by the end of the program. Following each content standard are one or more performance standards. Performance standards identify the more specific components of content standards and define the expected abilities of students within each content standard. Each performance standard is analyzed into specific performance indicators. Performance indicators are very specific criteria statements for determining whether a student exceeds the standard, meets the standard, or whose performance approaches the standard. Performance indicators may also be used as learning outcomes which teachers can identify as they plan their program learning objectives. [Funding for this paper was provided by the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education at the Department of Education.]

The paper addresses the importance of developing a rural community's commercial sector for economic development by providing some analytical tools. Procedures are outlined to estimate commercial sector activity in a community, to estimate commercial sector activity for various counties within a state (Nevada is used as an example), and to develop strategies for strengthening activity in a rural community's commercial sector. Sample equations are provided for calculating trade area capture and pull factor values. Strategies suggested for strengthening commercial activity include (1) identification of market potential through a survey of consumer demands and buying habits; (2) improvement of retail market capture share through downtown analysis and renewal; (3) development of employee training programs to improve quality of service; (4) expansion of purchases by non-local people through appropriate advertising; (5) encouragement to buy locally; and (6) collective action through formation of organizations such as the local Chamber of Commerce. Twenty references are listed. (NEC)

National and regional trends mask important variation among states in the supply of high school graduates. This profile provides brief indicators for Nevada related to: current levels of educational attainment, projections of high school graduates into the future, and two common barriers to student access and success--insufficient academic preparation and inadequate finances. This paper contains the following: (1) Educational Attainment by Race/Ethnicity; (2) Production of High School Graduates; (3) Public High School Graduates by Race/Ethnicity; (4) Composition of Public High School Graduates by Race/Ethnicity; (5) Composite Math and Reading Scores by Race/Ethnicity; and (6) Annual Income by Race/Ethnicity. (Contains 3 endnotes.) [For the complete report, "Knocking at the College Door: Projections of High School Graduates," see ED540129.]

This paper profiles Nevada's test score trends through 2008-09. Between 2005 and 2009, the percentages of students reaching the proficient level on the state test and the basic level on NAEP increased in grade 8 reading and math. Average annual gains were larger on the state test than on NAEP in both subjects. Trends in average (mean) test scores moved in the same direction as trends in percentages proficient/basic in grade 8 reading and math. Comparable mean score data were unavailable at grade 4. (Contains 1 footnote.) [For the main report, "State Test Score Trends through 2008-09, Part 1: Rising Scores on State Tests and NAEP", see ED513962.]