Posts Categorized: All Posts

Nevada’s December 2019 Economic Forum

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by Meredith A. Levine Nevada’s Economic Forum: Background The Economic Forum is a state-mandated panel that convenes periodically to submit revenue projections for the General Fund—Nevada’s major operating fund—to the Governor and the Legislature. It is a five-member committee drawn from the private sector, with three members selected by the Governor and one nominated by… Read more

Bigger Bang for the Buck: How Nevada’s Tier 1 Universities Compare in Affordability

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by Samuel Lair Last year, Nevada’s two, four-year public research universities — the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) — received the Carnegie R1 designation reserved for institutions with “very high research activity.” This designation placed both of Nevada’s public universities into a competitive list of the top… Read more

Nevada Not Yet the Fastest Improving SBAC State

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by Kenneth J. Retzl, Ph.D. In our previous blog post regarding comparative proficiency rates on the Smarter Balanced Assessment (commonly referred to as the SBAC), we discovered that changes in SBAC proficiency rates between grade levels were consistent across all SBAC states. This blog now examines the results against the Nevada Department of Education’s goal… Read more

Open Enrollment for Health Insurance in 2020: Big Changes and New Opportunities in Nevada

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By Danel Liden Introduction Open enrollment for individual health insurance plans has been underway since the beginning of November and ends on December 15 in Nevada and in most other states. Open enrollment is the time in which individuals can purchase insurance plans through HealthCare.gov or through their state’s health insurance marketplace. Outside of the… Read more

Math is Hard: SBAC Results Across States

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by Kenneth J. Retzl Every Spring, 3rd to 8th grade students in Nevada as well as several other states gather around computers to take the Smarter Balanced Assessment. This test, often referred to as the SBAC, is the (partial) basis upon which elementary and middle schools are awarded points in the Nevada School Performance Framework… Read more

Building Healthier Communities Through Housing

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The Guinn Center presented at the recent Nevada Public Health Association conference. A copy of the presentation can be found here:  Guinn Center NPHA  

Clark County School District: A Super-Sized District

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The Disproportionate Weight CCSD has on State Educational Outcomes Compared to Other Large Districts By Samuel Lair and Kenneth J. Retzl An often-cited figure is the vast scope of the Clark County School District (CCSD) as a proportion of Nevada’s total K-12 population. The current Superintendent Jesus Jara, in his State of the Schools address,… Read more

A Role for Law Enforcement in Reducing Homelessness in Nevada

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by Brian Warren Introduction Homelessness strains governmental resources and is an enormous burden to those experiencing it. Unsheltered homelessness is a particularly thorny problem as it often correlates with chronic homelessness, and those experiencing the latter are one of the most vulnerable populations in the country.  While homelessness has declined in southern Nevada, the state… Read more

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Benefits in Nevada

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by Meredith A. Levine [For a PDF of this blog, click here] The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a federal program, provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of low-income families and individuals. The Federal government funds the program but shares the costs of operating the program with each state. Recently, the U.S. Department of… Read more

Strategic Plans and Budget Deficits: The One Conversation CCSD is Not Having

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by Kenneth J. Retzl This blog is about questions more than answers. While we have heard many educational conversations at the Clark County School District (CCSD) Board of Trustee meetings, most are focused on current operations and not on long-term, strategic choices. To this end, the Guinn Center asks how the District’s current budget deficit… Read more