Tag: Arizona

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Association Blog

New Charter Schools Will Add More than 1,000 New Seats

By Jamar Younger

This has proved to be a landmark year for Arizona’s public charter schools.

Arizona celebrated the 25th anniversary of charter schools with enrollment surging past 200,000 students for the first time, accounting for 18 percent of the state’s total student population.

Charter schools continue to receive high marks in the state’s accountability system while outperforming the state average on assessment test, fueling the demand for more charter options in communities throughout the state.

On Monday, the State Board for Charter Schools added to those options approving six new charter schools, creating 1,082 new seats for Arizona students.

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Association Blog In the News

Arizona Parents Want School Choice and Support Charter Schools. Here’s Proof

By Jake Logan and Nina Rees

Arizona classes are back in session.

For parents of the more than 1.1 million Arizona students enrolled in a public school, it’s hard to imagine that less than a generation ago, the decision about where your child would attend school was made for you, not by you.

Indeed, many of us are old enough to remember a time when school assignment was dictated not by a student’s needs, but by the neighborhood in which his or her parents could afford to live.

In Arizona, that was the reality until 1994 when Arizona enacted charter school legislation. Together with the adoption of district open enrollment, the statutory changes affirmed a simple principle: Parents know best when it comes to picking the right school for their child.

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Association Blog

Why Choosing Online School is the Best Fit for Our Family

By Tara Boedigheimer

In 2011, when our son Drew was just two years old, we experienced every parent’s worst nightmare.

We were given the shocking and completely unexpected news, by a pediatric cardiologist, that our precious boy was critically ill with a very rare form of cardiomyopathy–and in need of a heart transplant. It was the only thing that could save his life. Not only that, he needed it immediately and the transplant program at Phoenix Children’s Hospital was very new and not approved by our insurance to handle Drew’s situation.

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Association Blog

Association COO/CFO Robert DiBacco Talks Non-profit Spending, Sustainability in Podcast

By Jamar Younger

Association COO/CFO Rob DiBacco recently sat down with Procurify, a company that helps organizations align spending with their business objectives, to discuss how he manages financial operations for the Association, ways to scale spend management sustainably and tips for how educational institutions should implement a purchasing process.

Association COO/CFO Robert Di Bacco

Di Bacco covers these topics and other lessons learned from a long career that’s spanned from the corporate world, where he worked as a bond underwriter for the Travelers Group, to Chile and Argentina, where led and founded The Gaia School, and finally to Arizona, where he’s handled the Association’s finance and operations for eight years.

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Association Blog

New Charter Schools Answer the Call for More Educational Choice

By Jamar Younger

As we approach the 25th anniversary of public charter schools in Arizona, charter school enrollment continues to surge with almost 200,000 students now attending the state’s charter schools.

This growth, along with the increasing prevalence of open enrollment, signals that parents are demanding more and varied choices for their students.

The State Board for Charter Schools on Monday added even more choices for families by approving charters for 10 new schools that plan to open for the 2019-20 school year.

These new public charter schools will add 3,187 new seats for Arizona students and families who are seeking more diverse educational options. As part of our strategic efforts to increase access to quality charter schools, the Arizona Charter Schools Association contributed to the creation of more than 2,600 of these seats by providing support to these new schools through consulting, charter application reviews, mock interviews and other workshops.

These new charters will be spread throughout the Phoenix Valley, situated in areas such as Maricopa, Apache Junction, Phoenix’s Maryvale neighborhood and Goodyear.

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Association Blog

Arizona Charter Students Boast Larger NAEP Gains than Any State

By Eric Berschback 

Recently released results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) show that Arizona’s public charter school students have posted greater scale score gains than any individual state, from 2009 to 2017. The data show that when measured as their own “state”, Arizona charter students outpaced the gains realized by their state level peers in all four major tested subjects: fourth grade reading and math, as well as eighth grade reading and math.

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Association Blog Charters Changing Lives

BASIS Chandler student’s values help her rise to the top

By Jamar Younger

Kaylah Rose Yazzie has no problem adapting to change.

As the daughter of a former active duty U.S. Air Force officer, Kaylah spent the early years of her childhood moving across the globe, living as far away as Alaska and Japan.

So, when she arrived at BASIS Chandler two years ago as a burgeoning young swimmer who was looking for more of an academic challenge at a rigorous school, it was only a matter of time before she found success.

The eighth-grader has excelled as a student and an athlete, breaking three state swimming records while helping the school’s swim team win a state title last year. The 15-year-old won the gold in the 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke and 50-yard butterfly during the Canyon Athletic Association’s state meet last October.

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Education Blog

GO WEST, YOUNG STUDENTS: ARIZONA’S GROWTH SINCE THE 80’s

Most Arizonans know that the state has experienced rapid growth over the past several decades. With 1.1 million students, Arizona’s public school population was the 13th largest in the nation in 2015, the most recent year reported.

But just how quickly have student populations risen, relative to other states?

We found that Arizona’s K-12 public school population more than doubled from 1987 to 2015, according to recently released data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Only Nevada saw a larger percentage gain in students during that time period, while the nation as a whole experienced a 27 percent growth in its K-12 student population.

The table shows the top five states in terms of relative growth, along with the national totals. Click on the bar graph for a better view of each of the 50 states, and Washington D.C.

Public School Student Population Growth: Top Five

Public School Student Population Growth Since 1987: All 50 States

 

Most of Arizona’s growth occurred from 1987 to 2006, a nearly twenty year span when the state averaged a 3.6% annual gain in student population. Since then, the student population has remained stable at around 1.1 million students.

The visualization below shows a year-by-year look at how student populations have grown in each state. Use the “Year” filter on the right to toggle through various years and see how the student population ascended or declined in a given state that year. For best results, click the “full screen” icon at the bottom right of the tool.

 

Footnotes and References

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

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Press Releases

Association Hires Director of Government Affairs

The Arizona Charter Schools Association is proud to announce the hiring of Matthew Simon as its Director of Government Affairs. Simon, a Tucson native, joins the Association after serving as Education Policy Advisory for Senate Majority Staff. During his time at the Arizona State Legislature, Simon developed a wealth of education finance and policy knowledge. Simon is a former high school science teacher and Teach for America corps member. He graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Political Science and is working towards his MBA in 2019.

“As a former teacher, Matthew understands the impact advocacy and policy can have on the classroom,” said Eileen B. Sigmund, President and CEO of the Arizona Charter Schools Association. “Matthew brings another layer of support to Association members and we are thrilled to have his expertise on our team to inform policymakers of the excellent work in Arizona’s public charter schools.”

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Association Blog

State Charter Board issues guidance for charters regarding special education students

By Jamar Younger

Public charter schools are required to admit all students, including special education pupils.

The State Board for Charter Schools has issued guidance for charters clarifying whether schools can cap or limit admission for special education students.

In short, charter schools are required to accept all special education students and offer the same services, and make the same accommodations for those students as school districts.

The Charter Board cites information from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, and Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. The Arizona Department of Education, Exceptional Student Services can also provide resources for charters.

You can view the Charter Board’s guidance here.

The Association also created an enrollment and admissions fact sheet to address questions and misconceptions about charter school enrollment policies. Click here to view the fact sheet.