Helios Education Foundation, in partnership with WestEd, headed research on chronic absences rates and found in 2021, one in five K-8 students in Arizona schools was chronically absent. The learning loss from absences, compounded with learning loss from the pandemic, continues to threaten student mobility and drop-out rates.
Read More »Legislation that changes ELL program gains support 
Lawmakers are moving legislation that would ask voters to approve a new way of teaching English Language Learners in Arizona.
Read More »Student success is about teachers, not the state’s English policy
Our policy leaders should regulate school programs with the same ‘light hand’ that they believe in regulating everything else, including themselves. Simply put, Arizona’s citizens know that our teachers need to be supported and basic principles of fairness should apply to all of us. Children should not be forced to learn English through structured state-mandated English policy.
Read More »English immersion repeal priority of schools chief, Dems, GOP
Reyna Montoya was a math whiz, but she didn’t speak English when she was 13.
Read More »Hoffman says she’ll assemble moderate staff 
Kathy Hoffman was buoyed by the Red for Ed movement and Democratic energy across Arizona, but now, she’s looking for moderate voices to guide her administration.
Read More »Senate president to kill highly supported ELL bill 
A bill to eliminate the state’s four-hour-a-day English language learning requirement for students whose second language is English has reached the Senate with nearly unanimous support, but Senate President Steve Yarbrough may kill it.
Read More »Senate unanimously approves new school-rating system 
After massive criticism of the new statewide school A-F accountability system, a bill moving through the Arizona Legislature would instead give a “dashboard” of grades to schools.
Read More »Arizona cuts time in mandatory language immersion
Arizona school districts have been given permission to cut the time some English-language learners spend in a mandatory immersion program.
Read More »9th Circuit dismisses 23-year-old lawsuit on state instruction of English language learners
Saying the state is doing all that is legally required, a federal appellate court on Monday dismissed a 23-year-old lawsuit claiming Arizona does not do enough to ensure all students have an opportunity to learn English.
Read More »Software firm criticized for pushing bill to require AZ to buy its product
State lawmakers are moving HB2485 to require the state to buy computer programs for English learners with specifications that were crafted in detail by a company selling the software.
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