02-12-2009 Lincoln County Schools Receive State & National Rankings

Lincoln County Schools Receive State & National Rankings
By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

A newly released study published in the February 5 issue of U.S. News & World Reports, listed Pahranagat Valley High School in Alamo, with only 82 students, as ranking eighth on the list of the Top 10 high schools in the State of Nevada. The evaluations were based on 2007-2008 study figures.

Quoting the U.S. News article, "In collaboration with School Evaluation Services, a K-12 education and data research and analyst business that provide parents with education data on schoolmasters.com - analyzed academic and enrollment data from more than 21,000 public high schools to find the very best across the country. The top schools (in each state) were placed into Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Honorable Mention categories." In eighth place, PVHS earned a bronze medal. First place in Nevada was Advanced Technology Academy in Las Vegas, followed by Boulder City High, and Community College High School East in Las Vegas (three campuses). None of the schools in Nevada earned a gold medal, but five schools, including Advanced Technology Academy, earned silver medals.

The others, including Pahranagat Valley, are Douglas High in Minden, Smith Valley High, TMCC Magnet High and Galena High, both in Reno. The study was done in conjunction with School Digger, the web's easiest and most useful K-12 Search and Comparison tool for parents. Schools were ranked on a number of categories such as demographics, overall student performance, disadvantaged student performance, college-ready student performance, advanced placement student performance, and international Baccalaureate student performance. Not all categories could apply to all schools. Pahranagat Valley did not receive a gold medal because they do not offer Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes, but did score high in other categories statewide.

Lincoln County High School in Panaca was listed as 36th on the list of the top 60 schools in the state.

Reports from the same School Diggers organization list Pahranagat
Valley Middle School as Number 1, out of 40, for all middle schools in Nevada, regardless of size. It is based on such things as student/teacher ratio, average mathematics and reading scores. Meadow Valley Middle School in Panaca is listed at number 31.

The elementary school listings, using the same criteria as for middle schools, have Pioche Elementary as Number 1 in the state. Panaca Elementary is number 31, Caliente Elementary number 136, and Pahranagat Valley Elementary number 198.