Arizona Department of Education

Chad Campbell's "Safer Schools, Safer Communities Plan": Yay or Nay?

Arizona House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell, has offered up some legislative proposals that are supposed to target gun violence -- one of the few plans we've heard of around here that doesn't include more guns.As a whole, his plan's chance of becoming law is zero percent, but let's get an ... More >>

Chad Campbell, House Democrat, Releases Plan for Schools, Guns, and Mentally Ill

To the credit of the Arizona House Minority Leader, Democrat Chad Campbell, he unveiled a pretty wide-ranging plan to change laws related to school safety, mental health, and guns.Unfortunately for Campbell, he's in the blood-red legislature in Arizona, so let's just say it's the thought that counts ... More >>

Tom Horne's Alleged Hit-and-Run at an Address Listed for Carmen Chenal

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery's big press conference this morning alleged illegal coordination between Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and an independent expenditure committee during his 2010 campaign. See also: -Attorney General Horne Hired Carmen Chenal to a Highly Paid Top Post -- ... More >>

Joe Arpaio Turns a Blind Eye to Jailhouse Justice

Ricardo Siqueiros, Nogales Teacher, Went For A Drive After School (With Nearly 20 Pounds of Meth And 12 Pounds of Blow, According to DPS)

​Nogales charter school teacher Ricardo Siqueiros took a ride on Interstate 10 toward Phoenix Tuesday evening.According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, he took his 19.5 pounds of meth and 12 pounds of cocaine along for the ride.Siqueiros, 32, was stopped by the cops around 7 p.m. while ... More >>

John Huppenthal's Edict: 10 Percent of TUSD Cut Till MAS Is Killed

Today, state Schools Superintendent John Huppenthal ordered that 10 percent of the budget for the Tucson Unified School District be withheld until TUSD eradicates its Mexican American Studies program.The cut is punitive and retroactive to August 15, 2011.No great drama there. Huppenthal announced th ... More >>

Tom Horne's Office Farmed Ethnic Studies Legal Work to Contributors

As reported in a previous blog, Administrative Law Judge Lewis Kowal recently upheld Arizona Schools' Superintendent John Huppenthal's finding that Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program violates the state's anti-ethnic studies statute, one drafted and passed with the expr ... More >>

Russell Pearce's Right-Wing Echo Chamber, and Its Latest Smear of Jerry Lewis

Gilman slams Patterson in his latest. Nice laugh track, Dennis.In the wake of the Olivia Cortes flap in the Legislative District 18 recall race, the right-wing echo chamber has been trying its darnedest to gin up scandals involving Republican Jerry Lewis, state Senate President Russell Pearce's ... More >>

Carmen Chenal Overwhelmed as Tom Horne Pulls an Andy Thomas on Redistricting

Arizona Public Schools Earn an "F" When it Comes to Math and Writing, According to Latest AIMS Test Results

yumamom.com​Arizona public schools still don't receive satisfactory marks when it comes to standardized test scores, as evident by the recently released results of this spring's Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) test, the state's current barometer for success on the education frontThe ... More >>

Ethnic Studies Equals Politically Conscious Latino Students -- Which is Exactly Why Its Enemies Want to Kill It

Feds to School Districts: No, You Can't Deny Undocumented Kids an Education -- And Don't Bully Them, Either

SalonMemo to legislators: son niños. They're children.​The Department of Justice mailed out a gentle reminder to school districts across the country over the weekend advising that undocumented students are, in fact, entitled to attend primary and secondary schools in America without being hassled ... More >>

Tucson's Rebellion Over Ethnic Studies Continues Today

Ethnic studies student Angelica Penaran takes a TUSD board member to the woodshedThe fight against the effort to slowly kill the Tucson Unified School District's embattled Mexican-American ethnic studies program continues today with a TUSD board of governor's meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. La ... More >>

Review of Tucson's Raza Studies Program by Schools Chief John Huppenthal Starts Monday; Tucson District's Funding On Line

John Huppenthal, state schools chief, will have the final say on whether the Raza Studies program in Tucson violates a new state law.​ The Arizona Department of Education is paying more than $170,000 to a Texas company that will research whether Tucson's Raza Studies program violates a ne ... More >>

Life in the Fast Lane: Arizona Schools Chief Tom Horne Busted for Speeding Six Times in Last 18 Months

www.calculateme.com​We know Sammy Hagar "can't drive 55," and it seems as though Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Tom Horne suffers from the same affliction.In the last 18 months, Horne has been ticketed for speeding six times "that he is aware of," including once while zipping ... More >>

Who Are the Latest Public Employees Going on Vacation at "Training" Resorts on the Taxpayer Dime? Arizona Teachers

www.tangodiva.com Apparently Arizona teachers need stoic beauty, a golf course, and a pool to be in a proper learning environment. Now let's figure out what Arizona students need.​ When are they going to get it?In what is becoming a sickening trend, Arizona teachers are now the latest gro ... More >>

Roosevelt School District Shows Big Improvement in Test Scores

  ​South Phoenix's Roosevelt School District, historically one of the Valley's worst-performing districts, made an impressive gain in test scores in 2009. The district announced today that students performed 9 percent better in math and 10 percent better in reading on the AIMS test. That ... More >>

High School Students V.S. Immigrants: Who Makes the Grade?

Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Tom Horne If they weren't born here, 96.5 percent of Arizona high school students would not qualify to be United States citizens, according to a study released last week by the Goldwater Institute. The "Freedom From Responsibility" survey shows that o ... More >>

Swine Flu Arizona -- Nothing Yet Reported in State or Sonora, Mexico

Image: Deanna Dent-- http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/slideshow/Mexico tourists wearing masks The swine flu situation in Arizona hasn't changed much since yesterday's post, except for a stockpiling of antiviral medications.Officials are telling Tucson media that Arizona still hasn't reported any cases ... More >>

Flunk'd

The Thomas J. Pappas School gives homeless kids everything they need — except a good education

Fast Times at Westwind junior high

Any way you add it up, kids at one Valley middle school were dealing meth out of their backpacks

The New Racism

Nothing's black and white at Millennium High School

Street Cred

Drums and dance pump up the Jam

Double Exposure

Arizona's finally followed Utah's lead and launched serious action to stop abuses by polygamists

Polygamy in Arizona: The Wages of Sin

Arizona polygamist leaders are using public funds to support religious schools and line their own pockets. The state's done nothing to stop them.

The Hanging

Insider claims state hid suicidal behavior

Learning Disorder

The Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections fails the state's worst kids

Fuzzy Math

Mishandled money adds up to a loss for students at Roosevelt schools

Burning Questions

Phoenix Mountains Preserve arrest ignites flurry of speculation

Nada Chance

Reforming Arizona's bilingual education system won't be as easy as voters may think

Murphy's Law

Year after year, Murphy school district officials watched their students die in a hail of violence. They decided to take matters into their own hands.

Charter Charter Bang Bang

It takes a report card to keep the Valley's alternative education scene straight

Board Games

Maricopa County schools chief Sandra Dowling plays to win--of course, as a governing board of one, she doesn't have much competition

Hayden High School Had a Farm, E-I-E-I-O

The Center for Agribusiness and Equine Science was supposed to help desegregate the Phoenix Union High School District. Now the same lawsuit that created it is shutting it down.

A Charter School Progress Report

In praise of creative finances

Counter Punch

High school student who defended himself fights his suspension

UNCHARTERED WATERSFEDERAL DESEGREGATION RULES BLOCK ENROLLMENTS IN CHARTER SCHOOLS

EDUCATION INTERRUPTUS

A SCOTTSDALE PARENTS' GROUP WITH TIES TO PAY ROBERTSON IS MAKING SURE THE SEX-ED CURRICULUM DOESN'T GO ALL THE WAY

SEPARATE BUT MAS QUE IGUAL

NEARLY HALF OF ARIZONA'S HISPANIC CHILDREN DROP OUT OF PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS. SOME PARENTS THINK THE SOLUTION IS HISPANIC CHARTER SCHOOLS.

THE STADIUM INDEX

AN ESTIMATED $250 MILLION IN TAXES WILL HELP BUILD A DOMED STADIUM. HERE'S WHAT ELSE IT COULD PAY FOR.

SPINNING WHEELS EX-JOURNALISTS TURNED PR FLACKS REDEFINE THE TERM "COVERING THE STORY"

ARIZONA'S EDUCATION SYSTEM IS READY FOR REFORM SCHOOL

FOR ONCE, BIG BUSINESS AND EDUCATORS ARE IN CONCERT. BUT WILL LAWMAKERS FACE THE MUSIC

CLASS IS OUT

THE WASHINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICT JUST LOVES TO RECALL BOARD MEMBERS. THIS TIME THE FIGHTING VERGES ON THE CHILDISH.

WHY THE STATE CAN'T SPOT MOLESTERS

SEX EDUCATION

SLIPSHOD BACKROUND CHEDKS, SCHOOL BOARDS THAT CUT DEALS, AND COLLEAGUES WHO PROTECT THEIR OWN. WHEN IT COMES TO TEACHERS WHO MOLEST, THE BIG PICTURE ISN'T PRETTY.

SEX EDUCATION

TWO VALLEY SCHOOL DISTRICTS HIRED A CHILD MOLESTER WHO CALLED MOLESTER WHO CALLED HIMSELF "THE GOD OF A'S AND F'S." IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.