Tag: AZEDNEWS
Education Spotlight — Tight race for Supt. of Public Instruction. See more local, state and national education news here
Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman and Republican challenger Tom Horne remain neck and neck to see who will come out on top for the next chief of Arizona schools.
See related stories:
• AZCentral — Horne ahead of Hoffman in Arizona schools chief race
• KNAU — Automatic recounts likely in Arizona AG and school superintendent races
• KTAR News — GOP challenger Tom Horne regains lead over Education Supt. Kathy Hoffman
• Election results as of noon Nov. 15, 2022
How students give back to their communities for holidays. See more state education news here
Whether taking part in online learning, hybrid instruction or in-person classes, students found ways to give back, share kindness and care for those deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic hardships this holiday season.
Here are some of the ways students, teachers and their schools found to give back to their communities during the holidays.
Building healthy communities: Redefining school culture. See more state education news here
Building Healthy Communities is a concept quickly being embraced throughout America, and this effort to unite communities and schools improves the well-being of all stakeholders.
What has an ideal world looked like for the past few months? What will an ideal world look like in the next few months as students return to school, restaurants open and people continue to unite across America?
The one thing we are sure of is that building the healthiest social and emotional climate, culture and community should be the forefront of our decisions moving forward.
Teaching model ‘flips’ traditional classroom in Arizona. See more state education news here
With the development of new technology over the past few decades, teachers now can do something they’ve never done before: bring onscreen lectures to their students’ homes. Arizona classrooms have begun using this teaching method to flip traditional homework and in-class lectures.
Flipped classrooms swap what students do in class with what they usually do at home. Homework becomes watching a teacher’s video lectures, sometimes in tandem with a reading assignment or exercise, at home, then coming to class the next day to work on projects. Through those projects, students are able to apply in class what they learned from the video, with their teacher ready to assist and answer questions.
Arizona Schools Plan For The Possibility Buildings May Not Open This Fall. See more state education news here
The interruption of the school year will cause more disruption than just having kids learn from home. Arizona school funding and ranking is in jeopardy, and faculties across the state are forced to plan for two realities as the fall opening remains uncertain.
Planning is by no means universal. Teachers and administrators from across Arizona school districts, charters and private schools are coming up with their own preliminary plans, but some are more concrete than others — and some teachers remain in the dark.
Derek Born, the president of the Flagstaff Education Association in the Flagstaff Unified School District, says the priority of the administration remains to be focused on finishing the online school year and plans for summer school.
“The superintendent did mention that basically everything is on the table. And we’re just looking at some of the other countries, and the other states that have issued plans for how to safely have school again,” Born said.
Many Arizona students lack internet, schools improvise. See more state education news here
As a junior high dance teacher, Jasmine Benton has always had to be flexible, but now this fourth-year teacher is being tested more than ever.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools across Arizona and much of the nation to stop in-person classes and teach remotely. As schools make the transition, they’re finding on average only about half of their students have access to the internet, making it harder for them to deliver lessons and homework — and some haven’t heard from their students or families since they closed.
Teletherapy has been powering virtual special education for years. See more national education news here
While the pace at which the coronavirus has forced schools to transition to online services is unprecedented, the act of providing these services online is not. And that includes doing special education online.
The idea of continuing to serve students with disabilities paralyzed many school leaders in recent weeks, and even led some to cancel school for everyone rather than tackle the challenge of providing special education online. But Kristin Martinez, the clinical director at PresenceLearning, which provides online special education services, said school leaders should take heart.
“This is doable,” she said. “Absolutely there are students who have been receiving services this way for years, successfully.”
Arizona Education Legislative Spotlight: Gov signs budget bills; view a breakdown of K-12 education budget. See more education legislative news here
Updated March 28: Gov. Doug Ducey today signed the budget bills into law.
“I commend legislative leaders of both parties, and all the Republican and Democratic members who shaped and passed this package, for coming together, putting politics aside, and showing real leadership,” Gov. Ducey said.
“It’s reflective of what we are seeing all across our state — Arizonans uniting to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives,” Gov. Ducey said.
“Our job isn’t done with this package of budget bills. There will certainly be more work to do and many tough decisions ahead of us as we better understand the full impact of this crisis on our citizens and on our economy,” Gov. Ducey said. “But Arizona is once again showing what it means to come together and put the good of our citizens before partisanship or politics.”
The budget bills include $50 million to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
AZEdNews Podcast: How AZ schools are affected by COVID-19 closure. See more state education news here
With Arizona public schools closed until the end of the school year for the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences for students, teachers and schools have been far-reaching, says Morgan Willis, intern for Arizona Education News Service.
Hear what Phoenix Union High School District‘s Supt. Dr. Chad Gestson and Save Our Schools Arizona‘s co-founder and spokesperson Dawn Penich-Thacker had to say about it.
Interested in running for school board? Sign up for webinars. See more state education news here
The best way to guarantee a quality school in every Arizona community is a well-functioning, locally elected school board, so Arizona School Boards Association has created a series of webinars on school board service, with the first one coming up in two days.
