Beat the Odds Institute News
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There is No Better Investment than Teach For America: Commentary (April 2009)
Teach For America corps members are leading students in Arizona's low-income, high minority schools to academic improvement equivalent to two and sometimes three grades in just one school year. Helios Education Foundation has stepped forward with a $1 million challenge grant to enable the program to continue, despite losing critical state funding as a result of the current budget shortfall. Center Chairman and CEO Lattie F. Coor is encouraging Arizonans to provide the required matching donations that will make the Helios funding a reality.
Arizona Announces Participation in “Tough Choices” Coalition to Overhaul State Education System (March 2009)
On a day when President Obama called for new education reforms, Arizona announced at a Washington, D.C. press conference that it has joined a national consortium of six states committed to significantly improving student achievement through a dramatic overhaul of its state education system. It was joined by two of the nation’s leading business groups and the nation’s largest education employees union who urged states and the federal government to give a fair trial to the education reform framework known as “Tough Choices or Tough Times.”
Arizona TCTT News Release (PDF)
National TCTT News Release (PDF)
Business Groups and Teachers Union News Release (PDF)
Joint Statement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Education Association (PDF)
Center for the Future of Arizona Receives Helios Education Foundation Startup Grant for Pathways Initiative (September 2008)
The Center for the Future of Arizona has launched a major new initiative focused on increasing student success through system-wide changes in public education.
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Pathways to Postsecondary: Commentaries (September 2008)
A new center initiative funded by Helios Education Foundation will help create seamless pathways to various forms of postsecondary education and career training for all students. Dr. Sybil Francis, executive director, will lead the project.
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Report Finds Think-and-Do Tanks are Filling Void (July 2008)
The Center for the Future of Arizona is one of seven organizations profiled in the new report “Thinking & Doing: Nationwide Citizen Groups Push for Political Pragmatism.” The organizations combine research by public-policy experts with pragmatic, fact-based problem-solving that serves the public interest and common good.
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Arizona High School Graduation Rate Drops 7 Percentage Points (May 2008)
Until recently, Arizona was on track to achieve its 2012 statewide graduation goal of 86 percent. Data on the Arizona Department of Education state report cards was recently revised to show a seven percentage point drop — from its high of 77 percent in 2004 to 70 percent in 2006 (the most current data available).
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Arizona Capitol Times Profile: Sybil Francis (February 2008)
Dr. Sybil Francis is working to create a seamless education system and “the Arizona we want.”
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Teacher ID Bill: Commentary (April 2008)
Dr. Sybil Francis describes the merits of HB 2787 in an Arizona Capitol Timescommentary.
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Esteemed Educator to Lead Institute, Help Arizona Students Beat the Odds (January 2008)
The Center for the Future of Arizona is pleased to announce that Dr. Marjorie Kaplan has been named the director of its newly created Beat the Odds Institute.
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