Tucson schools continue to take action to improve education after another national report gave Arizona a below average mark on how it educates students.
Arizona received an overall performance rating of a C-, ranking the state 43rd nationally, according to Education Week’s annual state-level “Quality Counts” report that was released in January.
The report gave Arizona an A- on standards, assessments and accountability. However, the state received a D+ in school finances. Arizona also received poor marks for teacher quality and K-12 achievement.
“I think you have to have funds to be able to hire qualified teachers to come in and teach,” said Raul Nido, principal of Sunnyside High School in Tucson. “It is sad to say but sometimes you get what you pay for.”
This year, the report added English-language learners into the analysis, because the number of English-language learner students in the country has increased from 3.2 million in the 1995-96 school year to 5.1 million in 2005-06.
Although Arizona is making progress in getting English-language learners into regular classrooms, the report indicates that Arizona is still below the national average. Of the 163,165 English-language learners in Arizona, roughly 11 percent of the students advanced into general education classrooms, compared to the nation’s 13 percent average.
The report also shows a large reading gap between English-learners and English-speakers in Arizona. Nearly 17 percent of fourth through eighth-grade English-language learners are proficient in reading, compared with 64 percent of English-speakers.
The gap was smaller in meeting the mathematics standard with 31 percent of English-learners passing, compared to 67 percent of English-speakers.
In an effort to bridge those gaps, Arizona teachers and other certified personnel are required to complete 60 hours of training in order to instruct English-language learners, said Steve Courter, president of the Tucson Education Association.
Courter also said districts in Arizona are “required to provide intensive English language development for students so they can join ‘mainstreamed’ classes with their English dominant peers as quickly as possible.”
Sunnyside High School, for example, implements a beginning, intermediate and advanced English-language learner program for blocks of two hours a day to help students learn English vocabulary, and to read and comprehend material. This ultimately helps prepare students for Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards, or AIMS test, said Nido.
“It’s not an easy process and it takes some time to learn a language,” said Nido. “We have had a lot of students who have been very successful in the program, but also some who have struggled.”
Nido said he understands Spanish speaking students need to learn English but believes the state’s two hour program is insufficient. In the state’s program, English-language learners are only in a classroom with other English-language learners. Nido thinks English-language learners also need good role models who speak fluent English in the classrooms to help them learn faster, he said.
In an effort to increase the state ranking, this year the state raised the standards of what students need to learn and are holding students, teachers and schools accountable for low AIMS test scores, said Tom Horne, Arizona state superintendent of public instruction.
“We take over schools that aren’t meeting the standards, make them better and turn them back once they meet the requirements,” Horne said. “Every year we engage in continuous improvement, that is part of my philosophy.”
Based on the research conducted by Education Week Magazine, Nido said he believes the overall report is fairly accurate in how the state is performing.
“I think the state is doing a very poor job of educating students,” Nido said. “Now, the fact that we are in an economic crisis probably means it won’t get any better for the next few years.”
Nido said he thinks the state legislature should be more sensitive to the needs of education, but finds it amazing what his school can do with the money they have.
