What Does Arizona's ELL Population Look Like, and How Are They Doing?

This Policy Brief examines several aspects of Arizona’s English language learner (ELL) population in great detail using recently collected data from six school districts across the state.  The analyses contained in this report focus on enrollment and demographic trends, English proficiency, and the academic performance of ELL students in grades 3-8, as well as measurements of student attendance and mobility.  The report’s key findings offer new information to help policymakers understand more about the challenges that many ELL students face in Arizona’s public education system.

(click here to download this document)

Breaking Down School Labels:
How Can Two Elementary Schools with Significantly Different Student Test Scores Be "Performing"?

Accountability has become an important part of the nation’s public education system.  Schools and districts are being held accountable for how well their students perform in a number of areas, including standardized tests.  In Arizona, public schools are annually assigned an “Achievement Profile” by the Arizona Department of Education, which places them into one of six performing categories:  Failing to Meet the Academic Standards, Underperforming, Performing, Highly Performing or Excelling. These labels are designed to evaluate how well schools are educating their students.

Using a case study, this Policy Brief compares 2004 AIMS test results from Boulder Creek Elementary school in the Paradise Valley Unified district with Washington Elementary school in the Washington Elementary district. This Brief demonstrates how schools can have wide gaps in their student proficiency levels as indicated by AIMS test results data, yet both be labeled as “Performing” in school performance evaluations.

(click here to download this document)

Where Does Arizona Stand?
An Examination of School Funding Rankings

School funding rankings are designed to measure and nationally compare preschool through 12th grade public education funding.  They reflect the public education spending choices made by each state, providing important comparative data for policymakers.  To understand how Arizona ’s ranking in current expenditures can vary, this Brief examines the methodological and data factors that influence states’ rating outcomes.  The first part of this Policy Brief seeks to address how Arizona’s position relative to other states can fluctuate by examining the formula drivers in four commonly referenced school funding rankings that focus on current expenditures in the classroom.   The second part of this Brief examines two capital expenditure rankings, an aspect of public education spending inherently different from those that rate current expenditures. While current expenditures include classroom spending, capital expenditures focus on building renovations, new building construction and new equipment purchases.

(click here to download this document)

Expanding the Concept of School Accountability:
Supplemental School Performance Indicators

Provisions of the recently passed No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation require all states to develop a single, statewide accountability system for public K-12 schools.  Traditionally, school accountability has focused on the use of standardized test scores to measure student achievement and, by extension, school performance.  With the recent emphasis on accountability, school performance determinations may have several implications, ranging from school improvement options to state intervention.

Because accountability determinations can bring high stakes consequences, a narrow focus on student assessment data may be insufficient to provide a comprehensive analysis of overall school success.  This Policy Brief describes four additional performance indicators including student stability, a measure of high school math readiness, parental involvement, and the percentage of graduating students that enter postsecondary education without remediation.

(click here to download this document)

Accountability in the Emerging Education Landscape

This Policy Brief describes Arizona ’s current system of measuring public school performance and provides a history of the national accountability movement.

(click here to download this document)

Who is in this place called school?

Minorities, as a whole, accounted for 78% of total student gain in Arizona's public schools from 1990 to 2003.  Hispanic students have fueled the increase in public school enrollment, and alone have contributed to 62% of the of the net gain in K-12 enrollment  from 1990-2003.  At the present  growth rate, the minority student population in Arizona will soon become the majority.

While the percentage of minorities increases in Arizona schools, there is a consistent achievement gap between racial and ethnic groups.  Hispanics and other minorities (except Asians) exhibited lower academic performance than white and non-Hispanic students on Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) state-developed, standards-based student achievement test.  Once AIMS becomes a graduation requirement in 2006, student passage rate models exhibit estimated passage rates that could differ considerably by racial/ethnic groups.  In addition to race/ethnic factors, student characteristics outside the classroom, such as socio-economic status and mobility, can also be detrimental to student achievement.

(click here to download this document)

Oranges to Oranges:
A Comparison of Arizona and Texas Annual Dropout Rates

State to state comparisons of public school indicators are a prominent part of public policy discussions. Many comparisons, however, are inappropriate assessments of the quality of the public school system. The purpose of this Policy Brief is to conduct an accurate and meaningful comparison of the Arizona and Texas annual dropout rates.

To establish comparable dropout rates, this study applied Arizona’s definition and calculation to Texas’ annual dropout rate. The results contradict the published annual dropout rates and illustrate the danger of making superficial comparisons of state-generated dropout rate statistics.

(click here to download this document)

Understanding Before Action:
An Explanation of Arizona Public School Dropout Rates

There is a common perception among the public that Arizona has one of the highest dropout rates in the country.  As a result, students dropping out of school has become a major public policy issue.  Before both private and public organizations rush to action to lower Arizona's dropout rate, it is important to understand the extent of the problem.

There are various dropout rates. What do they mean?

Can Arizona's public school dropout rates be compared to other states or a national statistic?

(click here to download this document)

Arizona K-12 Public Education:
Who does what?

This first Policy Brief on Arizona education focuses on “who does what” within the K-12 public education system. This Brief outlines the roles and responsibilities of major public education officials and identifies the lines of authority between them. This is a valuable resource for parents or anyone else trying to understand the complex Arizona K-12 public education system.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS THAT HELP US HELP YOU:

Was the publication helpful to you?
Is there any area of research you feel ThinkAZ should explore?

Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view these attached documents. Click on the above logo to download the FREE Reader