Carroll M. Johnston STEM Academy - Progress and Impact in 2024–25 - Research Report

Q: What was the goal of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program funding for Johnston?

The funding aimed to revitalize instructional programming and draw families from a broader geographic area.

Q: How did WestEd evaluate whether Johnston improved student achievement?

WestEd used a quasi-experimental design to compare Johnston students with a matched group from nonmagnet schools, then compared 8th grade science test scores.

Q: What evidence shows progress in program implementation during 2024–25?

Site visits during 2024–25 documented implementation across five readiness-to-sustainability levels and highlighted key themes, recruitment and parent engagement, and facilities and resources.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bintang

Carroll M. Johnston STEM Academy’s 2024–25 magnet transformation is evaluated for progress and student impact after Clark County School District opened two new magnet schools. Magnet Schools Assistance Program funding supported a restart of the school and targeted revitalization of instructional programming and family recruitment. WestEd used a quasi-experimental comparison to assess 8th grade science outcomes and found statistically significant improvements, supported by site visit evidence of environmental science implementation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Progress and Impact in 2024–25

Impact on Student Achievement

Magnet Transformation

Magnet Theme

Carroll M. Johnston STEM Academy Progress and Impact in 2024–25 March 2026 Sara Allender, Jonathan Nakamoto, and Jason Snipes This research was supported by a Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) grant (S165A230032) awarded to Clark County School District by the U.S. Department of Education. Clark County School District received Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP) funding in October 2023 to open two new magnet schools. After using the 2023–24 school year to plan a transition, the Carroll M. Johnston STEM Academy reopened as a new magnet school in August 2024. Johnston has a long history as a middle school serving the North Las Vegas community. However, in recent years attendance had begun to drop. The goal of the MSAP funding was to revitalize instructional programming and draw in families from a broader geographic area. Impact on Student Achievement After transitioning to a magnet school in 2024–25, Johnston improved from a onestar school to a three-star school. A school’s rating is based on a number of indicators, including proficiency on Nevada’s math, English language arts, and science state tests and measures of student engagement , such as the chronic absenteeism rate. All these indicators showed improvement between the 2023–24 and 2024–25 school years. Although the improvement in Johnston’s star rating is a positive sign, there was substantial turnover in the school’s population between 2023–24 and 2024–25. This student turnover could have led to much of the improvement that went into the star rating. To examine whether attending Johnston improved student achievement, WestEd used a quasi-experimental design to identify a comparison group of students who attended nonmagnet schools in the district and who had similar demographics and prior student achievement as the Johnston students. WestEd then compared the scores on the state’s 8th grade science test for the two groups. Additional details on the methodology for this analysis are included in the Appendix. As shown in Figure 1, the scores for Johnston students included in the analysis were 14.2 points higher than were the scores for the matched comparison students. This difference was statistically significant (p < .001) and is considered to have a large impact (effect size = 0.24) compared with the effects of other educational programs and interventions. Overall, the results indicate that attending Johnston was associated with improvements in the students’ science achievement and that the improvements were not solely a result of student turnover. Figure 1. Eighth Grade Science Scores for Johnston and Matched Comparison Students in 2024–25 Johnston students Comparison students 400 410 420 430 440 Science Scale Score Note. The difference between the scale scores for the Johnston (n = 253) and comparison students (n = 759) was statistically significant (p < .001) and controlled for prior achievement and student demographics. Magnet Transformation Overall, WestEd’s site visits during the 2024–25 school year showed that Johnston successfully implemented its environmental science magnet program. Implementation highlights from the site visits are presented throughout this section. Details about the site visit methodology are included in the Appendix. The implementation highlights are organized into three categories: magnet theme , recruitment and parent engagement , and facilities and resources. To assess the progress of the school’s implementation, WestEd rated its observations using the following five levels: readiness, emergence , initial implementation, refinement, and sustainability. These levels are adapted from the stages of program implementation used to evaluate educational programs.1 Given that this was Johnston’s 1st year as a magnet school, the ratings indicate effective early implementation and are consistent with the school’s recognition as one of the Nevada Governor’s Designated STEM Schools. 1. Readiness: The

FAQs

What was the goal of the Magnet Schools Assistance Program funding for Johnston?

The funding aimed to revitalize instructional programming and draw families from a broader geographic area.

How did WestEd evaluate whether Johnston improved student achievement?

WestEd used a quasi-experimental design to compare Johnston students with a matched group from nonmagnet schools, then compared 8th grade science test scores.

What evidence shows progress in program implementation during 2024–25?

Site visits during 2024–25 documented implementation across five readiness-to-sustainability levels and highlighted key themes, recruitment and parent engagement, and facilities and resources.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Bintang