Proficiency tests prevented 709 from getting diplomas last June

The inability to pass state-mandated proficiency tests in math and reading prevented 709 students from getting diplomas last June even though they had enough class credits.

State Superintendent of Education Mary Peterson released a final report Wednesday that showed the 709 who failed the tests were among a total of 2,652 students in the state who failed to graduate from high school. That is out of about 20,000 seniors in Nevada's high schools.

Clark, which has two-thirds of the students in Nevada schools, had an even higher percentage of those having trouble with the exams. Altogether, Clark had 85 percent of the students who failed to graduate and 83 percent of those denied a degree solely because they failed the proficiency tests. In Clark, 585 students were unable to pass the proficiency tests.

That is more than eight times as many as the 74 who couldn't pass the exams in Washoe School District, even though Clark is only three times the size of Washoe.

In Carson City, only two students were unable to get degrees because of the mandatory tests, along with one student in Douglas and six in Lyon County. Storey County schools listed no students unable to receive a diploma in June because of those tests.

All together, there were 41 Carson students unable to get their diploma in June, 24 in Douglas and 13 in Lyon. Again, Storey showed no eligible students unable to graduate high school in figures released by the Education Department on Wednesday.