Arizona public schools would get a one-year freeze on consequences from a new high-stakes learning test under legislation the state Department of Education plans to offer during the next session.

Max Ashton is a senior at Brophy College Preparatory with a 4.0 grade point average. He is also blind.

New set of school standards searches for success

Topock, an Arizona town on the far western edge of the state, doesn’t even have a stoplight. But its school district has scrambled to prepare for the new standards and get the Internet capacity and computers necessary for the 2015 debut of the accompanying test.

Arizona children entering third grade this year are the first who will have to prove that they can read at an acceptable level or face being held back.

Gov. Jan Brewer has signed a bill that makes it easier to fire some low-performing teachers.

A recently introduced Senate bill seeks to include in K-12 science courses discussion on the controversial issues of evolution, global warming and cloning, but the National Center for Science Education calls the measure anti-science legislation.

An Arizona State University professor said Wednesday it is time for the state to curtail its preference for school choice policy and find a way to help parents who choose to stay at failing schools rather than encouraging them to leave.

Democratic Rep. Eric Meyer and Republican Rep. Amanda Reeve are virtually tied in LD28, a Republican-leaning district which covers parts of central Phoenix, all of Paradise Valley, and a slice of Scottsdale.