For over 15 years, interdistrict open enrollment and charter schools have allowed Arizona families to send their children to the public schools of their choice, regardless of where they reside. To better understand how parents “shop” within Arizona’s public education marketplace, this issue examines the mobility of elementary school students among districts and charter schools in the Metropolitan Phoenix area.

An arts education information tool which was developed by Morrison Institute forPublic Policy, Arizona State University, on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Arts in Education Program (cooperative agreement DCA 94-62). Includes summaries of 49 pieces of applied and academic research that relate to the many relationships between the arts and education.

In 1988 and 1995, statewide surveys provided "snapshots" of the status of K-12 arts education in Arizona. These milestone studies showed a continuum of programs and a variety of strengths and challenges across the state. In the years since -- even as landmark education and arts policies were adopted and arts organizations became important sources of enrichment and learning -- Arizona’s educators and arts professionals have had to rely on local anecdotes, personal experience, and partial reports to gauge the status and impact of school- and community-based arts education. To answer today’s questions about arts education in schools and communities, the Arizona Arts Education Research Institute and Maricopa Partnership for Arts and Culture, instead of another snapshot, chose to determine the feasibility of mechanisms to track formal and informal -- or school- and community-based -- arts education over the long term. Morrison Institute for Public Policy (School of Public Affairs, College of Public Programs) designed the Beyond Snapshots study to gather input from a selection of state arts education experts, teachers, and representatives from schools, districts, and arts and culture organizations.