Nevada Department of Education outlines competency‑based learning, MTSS and accountability goals

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joan Ebert told the Senate Education Committee that the Nevada Department of Education will prioritize personalized competency‑based learning (PCBL), stronger multi‑tiered systems of support (MTSS), and tightened accountability tied to recently approved funding increases.

“We stand at a crossroads in education,” Superintendent Joan Ebert said, outlining the department’s strategy to move beyond traditional instruction and toward personalized, competency‑driven models. Ebert presented quick data snapshots showing Nevada serves nearly 480,000 students and employs almost 27,000 educators. She said less than half of students are proficient in English‑language arts and that mathematics proficiency and other indicators have shown recent incremental improvement.

Ebert described four initiatives the department will emphasize: expanding PCBL, scaling MTSS to reduce intensive interventions, strengthening the Nevada Report Card and accountability levers, and building on recent gains in early childhood and teacher recruitment. The department highlighted the new Acing Accountability initiative—designed to tie the historical $2.6 billion boost in K‑12 funding to measurable outcomes—and listed six guiding questions the framework will answer, including whether districts are implementing reading and math resources and whether graduates are prepared for college or career.

Selected data points and program details presented to the committee: - Per‑grade proficiency trends: Smarter Balanced results show small year‑to‑year gains; Ebert noted pandemic years produced gaps that remain in trend comparisons. - Graduation rate: A three‑year trend figure reported at 81.6%. - Teacher workforce: Instructional staff increased about 22% from 2019 to 2023; teacher attrition fell from 12.5% to 8.7% year‑over‑year, a reduction the department characterized as meaningful. - Early childhood: The state awarded roughly $140 million to expand prekindergarten seats, for the first time covering both 3‑ and 4‑year‑olds; an early‑childhood literacy and readiness account awarded about $88 million. - Chronic absenteeism: The statewide rate improved from 34.9% to 25.9% in the most recent year.

Ebert and department staff said state staffing capacity limits the department’s ability to provide deeper district support and that additional staff and resources would accelerate implementation of PCBL and MTSS. Committee members asked follow‑up questions about daily absenteeism dashboards, how federal reporting counts absences for chronic‑absenteeism metrics, and whether graduation‑rate comparisons are apples‑to‑apples with other states; staff said federal reporting methods differ across states and some measures are not directly comparable.

Why it matters: The department’s priorities and metrics will frame how the $2.6 billion in new funding is monitored and how districts are held to account; the presentation also flagged continuing gaps in outcomes and staffing that the department says funding and policy must address.

Next steps: NDE offered to provide more granular data and to work with districts on MTSS rollout, PCBL pilot performance, and workforce pipelines with higher education partners.