Community-Based Education at Nevada State School of Education

Finding an education student on the Nevada State campus can be difficult. Why? Because students of the Nevada State School of Education are dispersed throughout the Nevada area, bringing education to the community and working to assist Nevada teachers in meeting the educational needs of the local population. Nevada State College’s School of Education students can be found throughout Henderson, Las Vegas and northern Nevada communities. From Boulder City to Summerlin, Reno to Carson City, Lovelock and beyond our students actively participate in community education activities such as our tutoring centers in collaboration with the Las Vegas Housing Authority, weekend Reading Extravaganzas, writing clinics, and Child Find Clinical opportunities. These field experiences are a requirement for every Nevada State education student each and every semester and they begin upon enrollment in the School of Education. We believe that true educators do more than just teach school, they become devoted, active members of their communities. Being a student in the School of Education ensures multiple opportunities to participate and give back to the community in ways that enhance you as a person as well as an aspiring teacher.

Foothill High School Ve-hicle Project

Nevada State CARES School Supply Drive

Students enrolled in selected education courses are asked to submit their assignments electronically to save the traditional costs associated with printing and paper consumption. In turn, they are asked to correlate their perceived savings and voluntarily procure school supplies that are donated every fall semester to CCSD schools in economically-challenged communities.

Writing Extravaganza Workshop

How do you get elementary school children to come to school on a Saturday? Allow them to create tornado simulators, build a model robot, or investigate the life of a bug! Each year, elementary school children from local schools take a field trip to Nevada State College where they are met by eager preservice teachers who have remodeled the college classroom into inviting laboratories for learning. The workshop provides an opportunity for NSC students to experience real-life classroom challenges by working with students 5-12 years of age. These workshops put the students into a situation relevant to their future as teachers and they get to immediately apply what they are learning about how to be effective teachers. The elementary students learn that writing is a fun and entertaining mode of communication. Throughout the day, elementary students experience a hands-on approach to learning while reading and writing lessons are embedded into engaging activities centered around the interests of children. The NSC Writing Extravaganza is active and social, just how learning should be!

Child Find

Child Find, a state mandated service under IDEA, is a continuous process of public awareness activities, screening and evaluation designed to locate, identify, and refer as early as possible all young children with disabilities and their families who are in need of Early Intervention Program or Preschool Special Education services of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Starting in summer 2009, faculty from the Speech Pathology Program in the School of Education together with CCSD school psychologists, nurses, and therapists began offering Child Find Services at Nevada State Colleges, twice monthly on Saturdays. The services are free to the community and will continue through the 2009-10 academic year and beyond. The collaborative project provides a location for families in the Henderson area to have their young children screened for developmental delays while providing NSC students in the Speech Pathology, Nursing, and Psychology Programs opportunities in the future to observe and/or participate in the screenings under supervision of a professional.

The “SMART” Approach to Remediation

Research shows that children who perform poorly in the primary grades are most likely to become victims of poverty and crime as adults. In order to reverse this trend, Nevada State College and the Housing Authority of the City Las Vegas have joined forces to provide free after-school and summer tutoring to low income, minority children in kindergarten through fifth grade who live in two public housing projects in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Scholarly Math and Reading Tutoring (SMART) Program is funded by the Resident Opportunity Self-Sufficiency Empowerment or (ROSE) Foundation. The program focuses on improving student achievement in academics as well as modeling and teaching appropriate social and communication skills to at-risk students. Children in the program also have the opportunity to enjoy at least two educational field trips per semester to places such as the Springs Preserve, the Lied Museum, or a UNLV basketball game. These trips are free of charge and the City of Las Vegas Housing Authority provides transportation. Each program is supervised by a licensed teacher, who is always on site, and the tutors are college students currently enrolled in the Teacher Preparation Program at Nevada State College.

The SMART Program benefits all involved. The Las Vegas community receives educational assistance for a population that is most likely to experience academic difficulties while education majors at Nevada State gain valuable teaching experience and build working relationships with students and the community. Most importantly, Nevada children and parents are given a helping hand to help them meet the daunting challenges that face them today.

Tutoring is offered Mondays through Thursdays, after-school from 4:30pm to 6:30pm and in summer from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. The tutoring centers are located within the public housing complexes so that children have easy access to the services. Each center serves between 10 and 15 children. All students are given pretests in reading, math, spelling and writing in the Fall and are reassessed in Spring to measure academic progress. Improved social and communication skills are assessed through teacher observation.

Students enrolled in the program since its inception in 2007 have expressed a more positive attitude toward school and say that they are doing better in their class work thanks to the help and support they have received from their tutors in the SMART program.

Tutoring Center Locations
Sherman Gardens Apartment

1012 Silverman Way
Las Vegas, NV 89106

Honolulu Family Housing

340 N 11th Street
Las Vegas, Nevada 89101