Morrison Institute for Public Policy Publications Archives

Based on the premise that school reform efforts must consider the needs of at-risk children, this paper discusses parallel reform efforts that focus on community service. The first part discusses logical linkages between community service and "at-risk" education and describes how Arizona is attempting to formalize these linkages within the state context of school reform. The Serve-America program, which arose from passage of the National and Community Service Act of 1990, allocates funds to states for school-based community-service programs in grades K-12. Through formalized school-community agency and youth organization/community agency partnerships, Arizona's Serve-America project is designed to: (1) encourage school-age and out-of-school youth to volunteer their services for the benefit of others in their communities; (2) increase the number of adult volunteers in Arizona's schools; (3) provide productive, meaningful experiences for participants; and (4) emphasize coordination of community agencies to avoid duplication and maximize utilization of local resources. Together, Arizona's Serve-America programs have involved over 3,300 youth and adult volunteers who provided over 11,500 hours of community service in the ares of education, community improvement, human services, public safety, and conservation. Participants reported positive changes in their attitudes and behaviors as a result of their community service and service learning participation.

This follow-up to the 2001 landmark report, "Five Shoes Waiting to Drop on Arizona's Future," focuses on the projected future of the state if Arizona fails to address its Latino educational attainment gap. The publication is more of an economic impact statement than an education report, with indicators pointing out consequences and contributions, depending on action or inaction in closing the gap of Arizona's future workforce.

Students with AP credit are often able to skip general studies courses and take courses related to their majors earlier in their college careers than students without AP credits. Recent federal and state policies have been aimed at expanding students’ access to AP courses. In this brief, we examine students’ access, participation, and success in AP courses in Arizona’s public high schools.

The Arizona Republic reported on a Jan. 10 panel discussion regarding Arizona's vulnerable giant data system called the Student Accountability Information System, or SAIS: Arizona's superintendent of schools, John Huppenthal, says the state's K-12 data system is on the "verge of collapse" and is seeking $35 million in state funding over the next two years to fix and improve outdated systems. "We figure we have 200 people in the department who are essentially full-time data wranglers," Huppenthal said. "It's like monks in the medieval ages copying stuff on paper." The state's K-12 data system was the focus of a panel discussion sponsored by Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy. The nonpartisan research group released a report the same day calling the data system "antiquated" and "patched together." The report said the lack of a fully functioning system hampers the state's efforts to improve academic performance.

The report is both comprehensive and timely, with ELL-related discussions presently taking place in the Legislature that would remove ELL from the throes of political ideologies and return oversight to the State Board of Education. It notes the economic impact on all of Arizona if ELL programs and funding are not improved.