The Las Vegas Sun reports, “earlier this year, Las Vegas Councilman Ricki Barlow gave students at a North Las Vegas elementary school a special challenge: Improve scores on the standardized Criterion-referenced Test, and Barlow would treat high-achieving students to a pizza party and prizes such as bicycles and backpacks full of school supplies.”

“On Friday, Barlow returned to Quannah McCall Elementary School, 800 Carey Ave., to congratulate a few dozen summer school students for achieving the highest scores in school history. ‘I’m here today to live up to the end of my bargain because well over 124 students have surpassed the CRT exam,’ Barlow said. ‘I’m very proud of these kids.’ According to unofficial CRT scores, McCall still has room for a lot of improvement, with about two-thirds of fourth- and fifth-graders passing the mathematics portion of the CRT and about half of fourth- and fifth-graders passing the reading section. In third grade, only 53 percent passed math and 34 percent passed reading.”