We are pleased to see that Gov. Brewer has prioritized resources for the implementation of Arizona’s Common Core Standards in her fiscal year 2014 budget.
Ensuring our students are prepared to succeed in college, career and life is the most important decision Arizona can make for our state’s economic future and our individual quality of life.
In 2010, Arizona voluntarily adopted the Common Core Standards in English and mathematics, which are more rigorous, internationally benchmarked standards that will help move our state closer to a world-class education system. Resources for implementation of the new standards must be a top priority in the states FY14 budget if we want educators and students to success in meeting world-class expectations.
Right now, too many of Arizona’s students are not reaching their full potential. Only half of our high school graduates qualify to enroll in a state university and the majority of students enrolling in community college are taking remedial coursework. In today’s world, where an estimated 85 percent of high growth, high wage jobs will require post-secondary education, we must do better.
An investment in transforming Arizona’s educational outcomes today is a downpayment on our economic future. Arizona’s Common Core Standards and assessments will enable educators to hold the same high expectations for all Arizona students, regardless of their zip code. If implemented successfully, the result will be globally competitive students anda robust workforce that is ready to enter the workforce and fuel the economic growth of our state and all of our individual quality of life.
Arizona’s Common Core Standards will require new methods of teaching that lead students to become critical thinkers and problem solvers with higher levels of subject mastery. Our teachers will need additional training to adopt more innovative instructional methods and deepen their content knowledge. Resources for implementation of the new standards must be a top priority for the legislature if we want educators and students to succeed in meeting world–class expectations.
Additionally, outdated textbooks and lesson plans won’t suffice. We will need to fund soft capital for textbooks, curricula, and other essential teaching tools, including technology. In 2014-2015, Arizona will transition from the AIMS test to a new, online assessment. Schools will need the devices and broadband capacity to deliver these new tests. An investment in these 21st century assessments is essential to ensure we have graduates who are 21st century ready.
All students in Arizona deserve a world-class education. We can and must expect this for all of our students. Join Expect More Arizona in supporting a strategic investment in this year’s state budget for the implementation of the Common Core Standards and assessments. Doing so is critical to transform life prospects for Arizona’s students and to build a world-class education system of which we can be proud.
Pearl Chang Esau is President and CEO of Expect More Arizona, a non-partisan, education advocacy organization working to build a world-class education for all Arizona students.
chatmandu002 posted at 10:17 am on Wed, Jan 23, 2013.
Teaching to the core is essential for our children and our future.
VofReason posted at 12:34 pm on Wed, Jan 23, 2013.
It is hard to argue with this author on the point that our children should " transform life prospects for Arizona’s students and to build a world-class education system of which we can be proud". Where I have questions is how and why we ever got off track from this pursuit? Don't we have and pay Teachers, Administrators, Superintendants etc etc to do this and haven't we had these people in place for a long time? At what point did someone wave the flag to say not teach teach our children to the highest levels and expect the children and families to hold themselves also to high standard? Much of what I see above is the cry for more money to give to the same people who evidently have failed to deliver. Why would we expect different this time?
DonMey posted at 2:12 pm on Wed, Jan 23, 2013.
"Only half of our high school graduates qualify to enroll in a state university..."
I'd say that's pretty good. 90% of the jobs out there have no need for a college degree.
JMJ posted at 2:22 pm on Wed, Jan 23, 2013.
I assume VoR that most people expect more as they have more experience. What our teachers can expect,consistently, is less. Less support, less income, less respect, less resources to put some teeth into revamping their curricular needs, less of everything. THAT is what has happened, systematically, to teachers over the past two decades, maybe more. Morale is low. All the teachers I know [99%] ALWAYS do their best, regardless of the "it is what it is" reality of teaching in Arizona.
EXPECT MORE. Parents: EXPECT MORE OF YOUR CHILDREN. How is it that my kids were able to be educated K-12 in a public school setting in Arizona and become successful, marketable and happy adults? Parents need to expect more. The opportunity is there for the taking. Over two decades I observed parents expect way less of their own children's accountability. You can lead a horse to water, yadda yadda.
The cry for more money is a relevant reality--one that is constantly beaten down, just like teachers have been beaten down, morale-wise, for decades in this sorry state. The legislature is currently trying to find a way to refund that fat slob, Pearce, for his monetary losses during his sham campaign and recall.
Really? Couldn't the legislature write off that slime-ball once and for all and concentrate on education in this sorry a-- state?
Expect more? Of this legislature? Of education funding in this state?
Rots' o' ruck.
Rich posted at 7:11 pm on Wed, Jan 23, 2013.
Read John Henry Newman on the Educated Man. Then read the partisan rants of Mike McClellan, taught to your kids before he retired. Core Standards? Really, you've got kids coming out of High School with honors who think the Merchant of Venice is Shylock. We've been behind the Japanese, Russians and Germans since the 1950s in education, and they started telling me that in the 1950s. We make no attempt to educate people. We indoctrinate them into our political eccentricities try to make them good little sheeple and little else. As currently constituted 'Education" cripples your kids and your society. And costs you five times what it should.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 8:05 am on Thu, Jan 24, 2013.
Teachers these days don't have the time to educate their students....they are too busy having sex with them. They are too busy "being their mentors and friends". The don't feel that "educating" their students is their "calling". Teachers of today want to be "loved by their students". They want to "nurture" their students instead of teaching them Algebra or American History.
Just look at what went on for a decade down in Tucson. The Liberals took over the School Board and the Administration and brought in "Hispanic Studies/La Raza". Do you know what "La Raza" means in Spanish = the "Race". Only Hispanics are not part of a "Race".
And you wonder why John and Jane can't read or do math ???
VofReason posted at 12:29 pm on Thu, Jan 24, 2013.
Lets see. 9K per student spent in AZ. Average 25-30 kids per class= 250K. We cannot figure out how to educate a classroom of kids and pay a teacher well for a quarter million dollars? Is it a funding problem?