School History
The Clark County School District (CCSD) in Southern Nevada is the 5th largest school district in the United States. It serves 314,000 students, which account for 71 percent of all students in Nevada. There are 357 schools in the district, including 217 elementary, 59 middle, 49 high, 24 alternative, and 8 special schools. It has a graduation rate of 71.5 percent (Evergreen Education Group, 2015).
CCSD has a long history of offering students opportunities to learning with distance education. In 1991 CCSD partnered with Vegas PBS to deliver pre-recorded video courses. As time went on, CCSD's distance education program was transitioned from Vegas PBS to the district's Curriculum and Professional Development Division. A variety of delivery methods (e.g., DVD's, CD's, email, and internet-based) were utilized under the new program (NVLA, 2014b).
The biggest change to CCSD's distance education program came about during the 2004-2005 school year when Virtual High School (VHS) was formed. VHS was the first online high school to offer degrees in the state of Nevada (NVLA, 2014bb).
During the 2014-2015 school year, Virtual High School and CCSD's Academy for Individualized Study announced that they would merge together to create the Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD (NVLA). Now under the NVLA banner, enrollment was expanded to include both middle and high school students (Ferraro, 2014).
CCSD has a long history of offering students opportunities to learning with distance education. In 1991 CCSD partnered with Vegas PBS to deliver pre-recorded video courses. As time went on, CCSD's distance education program was transitioned from Vegas PBS to the district's Curriculum and Professional Development Division. A variety of delivery methods (e.g., DVD's, CD's, email, and internet-based) were utilized under the new program (NVLA, 2014b).
The biggest change to CCSD's distance education program came about during the 2004-2005 school year when Virtual High School (VHS) was formed. VHS was the first online high school to offer degrees in the state of Nevada (NVLA, 2014bb).
During the 2014-2015 school year, Virtual High School and CCSD's Academy for Individualized Study announced that they would merge together to create the Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD (NVLA). Now under the NVLA banner, enrollment was expanded to include both middle and high school students (Ferraro, 2014).
Organizational Structure
NVLA is run by Academic Manger, Dr. Jesse Welsh (see interview). Dr. Welsh supervises the administrative staff of one principal and two assistant principal's (one for middle school and one for high school). He also is responsible for coordinating enrollments between NVLA and the other schools in the district who enroll students full- and/or part-time at NVLA (Welsh, 2015). NVLA has 34 full-time faculty and multiple part-time faculty.
Regulatory Envrionment
The Clark County school district, and within it the Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD, is accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission. The CCSD is governed by the CCSD Board of School Trustees. There are eight trustees in total from different regions of the district (CCSD, n.d.).
In compliance with federal No Child Left Behind Act and Nevada Revised Statute 385, the following accountability reports from the 2013-2014 school year are available on the NVLA website (NVLA, 2014a):
It is important to note that middle school reports are not available as 6-8 grade courses were not offered at either of these schools during the 2013-2014 school year.
In compliance with federal No Child Left Behind Act and Nevada Revised Statute 385, the following accountability reports from the 2013-2014 school year are available on the NVLA website (NVLA, 2014a):
- Virtual High School 2013-2014 Accountability Report
- Academy for Individualized Study High School 2013-2014 Accountability Report
It is important to note that middle school reports are not available as 6-8 grade courses were not offered at either of these schools during the 2013-2014 school year.
References
Clark County School District. (n.d.). Trustees. [Webpage] Retrieved from http://www.ccsd.net/trustees/
Evergreen Education Group. (2015). Keeping pace with K-12 digital learning, 2014 eleventh edition. [Report] Retrieved from http://www.kpk12.com/wp-content/uploads/EEG_KP2014-fnl-lr.pdf
Ferraro, G. (2014) Clark County School District’s Virtual High School and Academy for Individualized Study Announce New Name: Nevada Learning Academy @ CCSD. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.nevadabusiness.com/2014/03/clark-county-school-districts-virtual-high-school-academy-individualized-study-announce-new-name-nevada-learning-academy-ccsd/
Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD. (2014a). Accountability. [Webpage] Retrieved from http://nvlearningacademy.net/academy/accountability/
Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD. (2014b). History. [Webpage] Retrieved from http://nvlearningacademy.net/academy/history/
Welsh, J., (March 3-24, 2015). Personal Communication.
Clark County School District. (n.d.). Trustees. [Webpage] Retrieved from http://www.ccsd.net/trustees/
Evergreen Education Group. (2015). Keeping pace with K-12 digital learning, 2014 eleventh edition. [Report] Retrieved from http://www.kpk12.com/wp-content/uploads/EEG_KP2014-fnl-lr.pdf
Ferraro, G. (2014) Clark County School District’s Virtual High School and Academy for Individualized Study Announce New Name: Nevada Learning Academy @ CCSD. [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.nevadabusiness.com/2014/03/clark-county-school-districts-virtual-high-school-academy-individualized-study-announce-new-name-nevada-learning-academy-ccsd/
Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD. (2014a). Accountability. [Webpage] Retrieved from http://nvlearningacademy.net/academy/accountability/
Nevada Learning Academy at CCSD. (2014b). History. [Webpage] Retrieved from http://nvlearningacademy.net/academy/history/
Welsh, J., (March 3-24, 2015). Personal Communication.