Las Vegas—On Wednesday, February 23, Wynn Resorts Director Elaine Wynn and Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education Daniel Klaich will address the joint senate and assembly committees on education to advocate legislative reforms adhering to Nevada's Promise—a blueprint for education reform in the state. As co-chairs of the Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force, they will call for legislative and administrative actions required for reform to establish college and career-ready standards and assessments, longitudinal data systems and effective resource allocation, as well as recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining great teachers and principals.

What: Interview opportunity with Elaine Wynn and Dan Klaich prior to and following the joint committee meeting. Contact Julia Humbert for details.

When: Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 3:30 p.m.

Where: Room 1214 (Video-conferenced to: Room 4412 of the Grant Sawyer State Office Building 555 East Washington Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada)

The Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force was created by Governor Gibbons to provide state leadership and coordination of Nevada’s Race to the Top application and to facilitate discourse and consensus for overall reform of public education. The resulting agenda, Nevada's Promise: Excellence, Rigor, and Equity, has become a blueprint for education reform in the state.

Although Nevada's Promise was not selected as a finalist in the federal Race to the Top competition for education funds, the great program served as a catalyst for unprecedented statewide collaboration.

"With the election of a new governor and the convening of a new legislature in 2011, the task force urges that citizens across the state become familiar with these proposals and that our policymakers and newly elected state leaders shape this report into the roadmap for the future," said Klaich.

"Many of the recommendations in this report can be undertaken through statutory amendments and by changing the culture of low expectations that exists in many schools to one of success for all students," said Wynn.

Nevada's Promise was created as a blueprint to reform the state’s P–20 public education system by pledging to ensure that every school will be led by an effective principal, every classroom will be led by an effective teacher and every student will graduate. To do so, Nevada’s Promise proposes to restructure Nevada’s K–12 public education governance model so that it is simple, clear and transparent, with the governor as the single point of responsibility and appointed state board of education members and a state superintendent of public instruction.

Furthermore, Nevada's Promise proposes to adopt common core state standards to provide students consistent and clear standards that every student is expected to learn; develop alternative routes to licensure for teachers and principals; design statewide teacher and principal evaluations that will inform key decisions about performance pay, tenure, professional development and termination; establish provisions to make Nevada more charter school-friendly; and use statewide, longitudinal data to measure student achievement and link all this information to educators, parents and students.

The reform agenda is available at www.nevadaspromise.org.

Las Vegas—Today the Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force launches the Nevada’s Promise website at www.nevadaspromise.org to educate Nevadans about the proposed solution to the massive yet solvable education crisis facing the state. The site contains an outline of the education challenges facing Nevada—including the lowest high school graduation rate in the nation—as well as comprehensive and bold solutions proposed by Nevada's Promise.

Nevada’s Promise began as the state’s application for federal Race to the Top grant funds and has become the blueprint for education reform in Nevada. This reform agenda represents the first truly tough-minded, bold approach to changing the way we do business in education in Nevada. A complete copy of the document can be found on the website along with an abstract, executive summary and PowerPoint presentation.

News from the task force, education successes in the news and progress updates will also be available on the site as well as background materials and official biographies. Public dialogue will also be encouraged through the group’s Facebook page (link available at www.nevadaspromise.org).

The task force will hold an open meeting September 20 at Valley High School to continue work on implementing Nevada’s Promise and recommending long-term education reform measures. News briefs on the presentations will be posted at www.nevadaspromise.org following each meeting.

The reform agenda is available at www.nevadaspromise.org.

Las Vegas—On Monday, September 20, the governor's Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force will meet at Valley High School at 10 a.m. to continue work toward implementing its education reform agenda—Nevada's Promise: Excellence, Rigor, and Equity—with the collaboration of opinion leaders and representatives from the public, private and nonprofit sectors in Nevada.

The meeting will cover an analysis of the U.S. Department of Education's comments on Nevada's Race to the Top application—Nevada's Promise—as well as reports and preliminary recommendations from each task force working group.

The meeting location was chosen to highlight one of Las Vegas' most successful turnaround schools, a key component of the Nevada's Promise reform agenda. Under the direction of Principal and Education Reform Task Force Member Ron Montoya, Valley High School was designated a "high-achieving turnaround" school under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. In five years, the school nearly doubled its percentage of students passing the state's math, reading and writing proficiency tests.

"Valley High School was an obvious choice given its ability to exemplify what Nevada's Promise aims to achieve," commented Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force Co-chair Elaine Wynn. "Ron Montoya contributed his considerable expertise to Nevada's Promise in proposing recommendations for turning around the lowest-achieving schools, which received consistently high marks and praise from the application's U.S. Department of Education reviewers."

Nevada's Promise was not selected as a finalist in the federal Race to the Top competition for education funds, but the Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task force will continue its work to implement the long-term education reforms detailed in the agenda, as charged by the governor's executive order. The task force has organized into three working groups—governance, legislation and public will and communication—to advance the goals set forth in Nevada's Promise.

"The Race to the Top grant competition proved to be more than an exercise to qualify for dollars," commented Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force Co-chair Daniel Klaich. "It was the catalyst for a major collaboration of stakeholders in creating this blueprint for education reform in Nevada. Collaboration has been the hallmark of this serious engagement, and it will require that same diversity of perspectives and representation to fulfill our promise that every school will be led by effective principals, every classroom will be led by effective teachers and every student will graduate."

Las Vegas—On May 21, 2010, the Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force created by Governor Gibbons submitted to the governor the state's Race to the Top application, entitled Nevada's Promise: Excellence, Rigor, and Equity.

The application is available at www.nevadaracetothetop.org and outlines a comprehensive plan for reform using federal funding in six key areas: state success factors, standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, great teachers and leaders, turning around the lowest achieving schools and general selection criteria.

Among the recommendations set forth in Nevada's Promise are five specifically-targeted objectives to be accomplished by 2014: increasing the graduation rate to 85 percent using the longitudinal cohort model; reducing the achievement gap by 50 percent for African American-white and Hispanic-white on NAEP; increasing the number of graduates enrolling in post-secondary institutions both in-state or out-of-state by 50 percent; increasing student achievement percentages of students proficient or advanced on the NAEP fourth-grade mathematics (from 32 percent to 50 percent) and eight-grade mathematics (from 25 percent to 50 percent); and increasing student achievement percentages of students proficient or advanced on the NAEP fourth-grade reading (from 24 percent to 50 percent) and eight-grade reading (from 22 percent to 50 percent).

The Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force will now begin the second phase of its work, to make recommendations for revisions to state laws and regulations which will implement the education reform outlined in the Nevada application, to make the case for necessary state funding, and to lay the groundwork for the public support necessary for implementation of these reforms in our state.

"We are proud of the Race to the Top application we have submitted and look forward to planning for this next crucial phase of the Task Force," commented Co-chairs Dan Klaich and Elaine Wynn. "This is the time where the rich diversity of the committee and the experience that each individual brings to our common cause will be critical."

LAS VEGAS, April 19, 2010—The Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force will hold an open meeting on Friday, April 23, to continue work on Nevada's application for Race to the Top funds from the federal government. The meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Desert Research Institute, Stout Conference Room at 2215 Raggio Parkway in Reno, NV. The public will be invited to comment.

On April 9, the task force sections made presentations on state success factors, standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, great teachers and leaders, turning around the lowest achieving schools and general selection criteria. To view the presentations, please visit the Resources page at www.nevadaracetothetop.org.

The directive of the task force is to ensure a successful state application for the Race to the Top competition and to review Nevada's education infrastructure and recommend long-term K-12 and higher education reform measures. The governor has requested that the application for Race to the Top funds be delivered to him by May 21, 2010.

For a map and directions to the next meeting, please visit www.nevadaracetothetop.org.

LAS VEGAS, March 26, 2010—The Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force will meet twice in April to continue work on Nevada's application for Race to the Top funds from the federal government. The meetings will be open and the public will be invited to comment.

On April 9, the sections will make presentations on state success factors, standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, great teachers and leaders, turning around the lowest achieving schools and general selection criteria.

On April 23, the task force will further its review for the Race to the Top application. The governor has requested that the application be delivered to him by May 21, 2010.

In its initial meeting on March 19, the task force reviewed the state of education in Nevada and organized into formal sections to address each substantive portion of the application.

Las Vegas, March 19, 2010—The Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force created by Governor Gibbons met for the first time today at Wynn Las Vegas to review and organize the process for addressing their first priority, the state's application for Race to the Top funds from the federal government. The governor has requested that the application be delivered to him by May 21, 2010.

In its initial meeting, the task force reviewed the state of education in Nevada and organized into formal sections to address each substantive portion of the application, which include state success factors, standards and assessments, data systems to support instruction, great teachers and leaders, turning around the lowest achieving schools and general selection criteria.

"I am inspired by the collective brainpower and experience of the task force, and I commend the governor for assembling this group to develop a vision for education in our state," said co-chair and Director of Wynn Resorts, Elaine Wynn. "Education will singularly drive our future, and I look forward to creating a public dialogue to address the pressing issues facing Nevada's public education system."

The committee will launch a Web site devoted to the process that will facilitate public involvement and discussion. News from the task force committees and progress updates will be available on the site, as well as presentations and information about the taskforce members. Public comment will also be encouraged through the site.

While the primary directive for the task force is to ensure a successful state application for the Race to the Top competition, it will necessarily review Nevada's education infrastructure and recommend long-term K-12 and higher education reform measures.

(Carson City, Nevada) – Governor Jim Gibbons signed an Executive Order today forming the Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force to guide and oversee Nevada's Race to the Top application and to facilitate public and private discussion and consensus for overall reform of public education for Nevada's children.

“This task force will merge new ideas with proven methods to propel Nevada's education delivery system to new heights,” Gibbons said, “The group will create a path to prepare Nevada's students to be the intellectual infrastructure for our future.”

Gibbons plans to enlist the help of the public and private sector for this important project. Nevada's state, private industry and nonprofit leaders will work together to ensure a successful state application for the Race to the Top competition and to effect long-term K-12 and higher education reform. Experts and stakeholders in K-12 and higher education, government, technology and business must work together as a team to ensure our education system succeeds both in educating our children and in providing the background and skills necessary for the current and future job markets in Nevada.

Well-known supporter of education and entrepreneur Elaine Wynn and Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich have been named co-chairs of the task force. Other members include: Senator Barbara Cegavske; Assemblywoman Debbie Smith; State Board of Education Chairman Chris Wallace; Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Keith Rheault; Nye County School District Superintendent William “Rob” Roberts; Washoe County School District Superintendent Heath Morrison; Acting Douglas County School District Superintendent John Soderman; former Regent Jill Derby; Joyce Haldeman, Assistant Superintendent, Clark County School District; DJ Allen, Imagine Marketing; Ray Bacon, President, Nevada Manufacturing Association; Pam Hicks, Regional Professional Development Program; Dr. Sonya Horsford, UNLV; Dana Lee, President, Nevada Women's Philanthropy; Cherri Luna, classroom teacher in Clark County; Punam Mathur, Vice President Human Resources, NV Energy; Ronald Montoya, Principal, Clark County School District; Maureen Peckman, Cleveland Clinic; Karen Pedersen, classroom teacher in Lyon County; Gina Polovina, Vice President Community Relations and Government Affairs, Boyd Gaming; Michele Robinson, President, Nevada Charter School Association; Allison Serafin, Executive Director, Teach for America; Nancy Smith, Datanamics; Diane Sumner, classroom teacher in Washoe County; Alison Turner, President, Nevada Parent Teacher Association; Gintas Vildzius, Vice President Global Energy, GE Energy; and Lynn Warne, President, Nevada State Education Association.

The responsibilities of the task force include:

• Providing state leadership and coordination of the Race to the Top application and ensure its timely submission by June 1, 2010;
• Facilitating discussion and consensus among public and private stakeholders in building a knowledge base of “lessons learned” to facilitate the Race to the Top application;
• Encouraging public and private involvement in a review of Nevada's education infrastructure and recommendation of measures designed to ensure that we are providing a fair and appropriate education that will support the future of our state and diversification of our economy;
• Facilitating a statewide dialogue on reform of our public education delivery system;
• Consulting with relevant stakeholders to develop a plan to improve the results of our state's public education system, from K-12 through higher education; and
• Developing legislative and regulatory recommendations supporting the mission that may address, among other matters, governance, academic standards, teacher performance and resource allocation.

The task force will submit two items to Governor Gibbons: the completed Nevada Race to the Top application no later than May 21, 2010, and, no later than November 19, 2010, its recommendations regarding revisions to state laws and regulations relating to education reform and related funding for inclusion in the Governor's Executive Budget for Fiscal Years 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.

“The task force members have the innovation and determination to modernize Nevada's education system and provide the workforce for our future,” Gibbons said, “I look forward to receiving the ideas and input from this talented group of individuals.”

The task force will have its first meeting on Friday, March 19, 2010.