Center for the Future of Arizona receives national Catalyst of the Year award
Recognition honors CFA’s work helping educators, communities, and partners create learning that responds to students’ needs, strengths and goals
CFA Senior Director for Education Peter Boyle represents CFA at the 2026 FullScale Symposium in Indiana, to receive the national Catalyst of the Year award.
CFA Senior Director for Education Peter Boyle represents CFA at the 2026 FullScale Symposium in Indiana, to receive the national Catalyst of the Year award.
CFA Senior Director for Education Peter Boyle represents CFA at the 2026 FullScale Symposium in Indiana, to receive the national Catalyst of the Year award.
Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) received FullScale’s Catalyst of the Year award at its annual symposium, held Oct. 8–10 in Indianapolis. The national award recognized CFA’s leadership in bringing educators, school leaders, and partners together to help schools make learning more responsive to students.
Through its Arizona Personalized Learning Network, CFA supports work spanning four districts, 39 schools, more than 1,500 educators and nearly 80,000 students each year. Since 2019, the network has connected educators, school leaders, state partners and national experts to design learning experiences that respond to students’ strengths, needs, interests, and goals. That can mean building on what students already know, giving them support where they need it, and connecting learning to their interests and future goals.
“When students can build on what they know, get support where they need it, and connect learning to their goals, learning can feel more meaningful and help prepare them for what comes next. CFA is proud to support the educators creating those opportunities. We’re honored to receive this recognition because it reflects the commitment of many people and communities working together to make learning more responsive to students—something Arizonans have told CFA they want. We hope this work inspires other communities in Arizona and across the country,” said Peter Boyle, senior director for education at CFA.
The network’s work is producing changes in both classroom practice and district systems. In Yuma Union High School District, for example, educators used professional learning and schoolwide collaboration to use grading that more clearly shows what students have learned and where they may need more support. Across participating districts, changes have also expanded access to personalized learning pathways, internships, dual credit, and project-based learning.
Survey findings show growing educator confidence and ownership. From 2022 to 2025, favorable responses to educator agency, a measure of educators’ ability to shape their work, increased by more than 10 percentage points, reaching 87%. Educators’ perceptions of student agency, or students’ ownership of their learning, also improved by nearly eight percentage points.
“Center for the Future of Arizona has demonstrated a long-term commitment to change at every level of the education system,” said Matt Williams, interim president and CEO of KnowledgeWorks, who nominated CFA for the award. “They bring people together and build the relationships, leadership capacity, and the structures needed to carry the work forward. Ultimately, they are helping to ensure sustainable progress for students in Arizona.”
CFA and KnowledgeWorks have partnered to advance personalized learning in the state since 2020, beginning with support for Mesa Public Schools and expanding to include three other district cohorts, leadership development programming, and policy resources that help schools understand and use existing Arizona policy flexibility to personalize learning and rethink instructional time.
FullScale introduced its awards in 2026 to celebrate individuals and organizations that are advancing education transformation. The Catalyst of the Year category honors conveners, networks and organizations that build connections across sectors and advance collective progress. Awards across five categories recognize contributions ranging from direct work with students to policy, systems change and research.