STATE OF EDUCATION – 2007

For the past four years, I have given state of education speeches at schools.
This year, as I start my second term, I am doing it here at the legislature to
emphasize that important achievements in education are partnerships: partnerships
with you, our legislators, partnership with the state board, and partnerships with
schools and numerous other stakeholders.
When I took office in 2003, we announced eight public initiatives. Having
made progress in all eight, the theme of my state of education speech in each
subsequent year, as we added more initiatives, was “Promises Made, Promises
Kept.” This year’s three initiatives are proposed partnerships with you and other
stakeholders. I hope we will be successful together. I will go over the details in a
minute.
Having served four years on the House Education Committee myself, I
appreciate the hard job that you do, and I pay tribute to you. I want to start out by
talking about a state legislator who preceded you by about 175 years. In 1832,
Abraham Lincoln made his first run for the Illinois legislature, representing
Sangamo County. He took out an ad in the Sangamo Journal dated March 15,
1832, and published a long letter to the people of Sangamo County. In part, he
said:
Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition...I can say for one
that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my
fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I
shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed.
Later, after suffering some political reverses, he became profoundly
depressed, and declared himself more than ready to die, except that “he had done
nothing to make any human being remember that he had lived.” He sought, and as
we now know, achieved, rendering himself worthy of the esteem of his fellow
men, and of posterity.
None of us will have the opportunity to free people from slavery, or reunite
a divided nation. But we can render ourselves worthy of the esteem of our fellow
men and women, and of posterity, by choosing, among the many conflicting
priorities with which we are presented, to give the highest priority to the education
of our children.

We live in an age where the success of our civilization will depend on
preparing our children to compete intellectually in the 21st century, for our children
to know enough of our history to preserve our freedom and representative form of
government, and to know enough of culture and the arts to preserve the inheritance
of a great civilization.
The importance of education is not solely the consequence of the
development of the internet in the 21st century. Here is what Lincoln, the young
candidate for the legislature, said in his letter to the citizens of Sangamo County in
1832:
Upon the subject of education… I can only say that I view it as the
most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That
every man may receive …an education, and thereby be enabled to
read the histories of his own and other countries, by which he may
duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an
object of vital importance …
Consistent with these thoughts, our initiatives are aimed at bringing an
excellent education to every Arizona students.
Bringing us forward to Arizona in 2007, let me begin with my old refrain of
Promises Made, Promises Kept, as I describe my three initiatives from last year to
advance excellence in Arizona education. As was done each year, they are divided
into three categories: better schools, better teachers, better curriculum.
BETTER SCHOOLS – AIMS
The first, under Better Schools, was to help students to acquire the skills
they need to pass the AIMS tests. Of those who received tutoring, over 90 percent
had significantly improved their scores.
The final result was that 94 percent of the students with the credits to
graduate from high school passed all three AIMS tests. For students who did not
graduate, additional opportunities to take the test are provided, so that when they
demonstrate that they have the needed skills, they can obtain their diplomas. We
will not give up on anybody.
BETTER TEACHERS – HIGHER COMPENSATION
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The second initiative last year, under Better Teachers, was higher
compensation for our educators. Last year, I proposed a $2,500 raise for each
teacher, which would have cost $150 million. In last year’s speech, I stated:
We have worked hard on the accountability side. We are holding our
schools and our teachers accountable for results. But none of this can
succeed unless we do a better job of retaining the highly qualified
teachers that we have, and attracting a much greater number of
talented people into teaching.
Sen. O’Halleran, who was then a member of the House Education
Committee, introduced a bill to do this, and it passed the House Education
Committee unanimously. In my view, this was very much to the credit to the
House Education Committee and was an important symbolic victory.
In the final budget, $100 million was allocated for raises. I believe that this
amount was not adequate. In addition, rather than award the raise directly to the
teachers, the money was provided to school boards to pass on as a raise. In some
districts the teachers received no additional raise. It is my hope that this yea
additional raises will be appropriated directly to the teachers, in an equal amount
for each teacher.
BETTER CURRICULUM – RIGOROUS HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM
The third initiative, under Better Curriculum, was to encourage more high
school students to take a rigorous curriculum, including Advanced Placement,
International Baccalaureate, and other honors courses. Studies have shown that
the best predictor of college achievement is the rigor of the curriculum taken in
high school.
Department of Education personnel made 60 site visits to schools, talking
with teachers and students about the benefits of adopting a more rigorous
academic program. Training was held for math teachers to help them to align
their mathematics curriculum and raise expectations for academic rigor, and
similar programs were held for English teachers.
The results: A 16.3 percent increase in Advance Placement test takers, and a
12.6 percent increase in the number of students receiving a passing score on the
Advanced Placement test that usually leads to college credit.

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Emphasis was given to low income student participation, because these
students in the past have been underserved with Advanced Placement programs
and their participation grew 48 percent.
NEW INITIATIVES
For next year, we want to take steps to make sure that our students are
prepared for the 21st century demands for college, or for the work force, both of
which will require much higher intellectual attainments. Students should have
individual plans geared to their aptitudes and expectations, should be prepared for
the digital skills required in a computerized economy, and should be prepared for
the international nature of the coming economy. Our three goals for next year are
based on these three concepts:
BETTER SCHOOLS – PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLANS
The first goal, under Better Schools, is that every student should have a
personalized learning plan from the seventh grade onward. With personalized
learning plans, students who expect to go college can see that they must take the
kind of rigorous curriculum required for college success. Alternatively, some
students will want a plan to have the necessary intellectual skills for the job
market after high school. I was told of a 28 year old apprentice in a construction
trade who said, “I wish I had known about this training in high school. I wasted
the last ten years.” With personalized learning plans, this should not recur.
Chairman Anderson has introduced a bill for an appropriation of $400,000
per year for a statewide web-based system for all students to have personalized
learning plans. Principals would be responsible to see that all students had these
plans, and they would be a requirement for graduation, to assure that they were
universal.
This is the culmination of four years of work that the Department of
Education has been doing on the importance of including personalized learning
plans, as part of the high school renewal effort. Arizona began its a high school
renewal initiative during my first year in office in 2003.
Partners included secondary educators, the Arizona Business and Education
Coalition, the governor’s office, Greater Phoenix Leadership, higher education,
Rodel, the State Board of Education, school practitioners, and a number of other
stakeholders.
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We had to choose from a number of available high school renewable
programs. We came to the conclusion that “Breaking Ranks II,” which provides
schools with scientifically research-based recommendations and strategies studied
at Brown University, be the foundation of our middle and high school renewal
efforts. It is a bottom-up approach that provides school leaders with realistic
“entry points” for school improvement. These strategies and recommendations
are based upon each individual school’s strengths and weaknesses, as opposed to a
top-down approach that might destroy what works, in order to fit some theorists’
preconceived idea. Because of the successful start of our high school renewal
program, I was one of three state school chiefs chosen to address a United States
Department of Education national meeting on high school renewal, in December
2004.
One of the seven cornerstone strategies of Breaking Ranks II is personalized
learning plans, and our high school renewal initiative has been highlighting their
importance within our Breaking Ranks II trainings. A personalized learning plan
summit for middle and high school teams is also scheduled in Tucson this coming
June.
A number of Arizona Districts, such as the Glendale High School District,
have successful systems for personal learning plans.
Adopting this proposal for a statewide, web-based personal learning plan
system will accelerate our goal of having all students motivated to succeed by
engaging them in the process of planning their own future from seventh grade
onward.
BETTER TEACHERS – DIGITAL SUPPORT
The second goal, under Better Teachers, is to expand a pilot program of
digital support in which teachers can better prepare students for the digital
economy in a context where every student has his or her own laptop. The Vail
School District in the Tucson area has one laptop per student in the Empire High
School. At Empire, they used their textbook money. They assure me, that
although the students don’t have text books, they do read other books. I am
enough of a reactionary to think that it is important for students to continue to read
real books.

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This program can be copied by other districts, at least in part, because they
can also use their textbook money.
In other states, experiments with one student per laptop have led to a number
of failures. While there are a number of reasons for this, the biggest factor was
inadequate professional development for teachers, so they would know how to use
the computers effectively.
Vail researched this, prepared their teachers
thoroughly, and their program has been a success. They are a highly performing
school, which shows high academic performance by the students.
The long-term vision is that every student in the state above a certain age
will have his or her own laptop. But, to avoid the pitfalls of failures experienced
by other states, we should proceed carefully. I am recommending an expansion to
a pilot program of seven schools spread through the state. The schools that agreed
to participate in this expanded pilot are: Benson High School in Cochise County,
Vail High School Charter School in Pima County, Rio Rico High School in Santa
Cruz County, Florence High School in Pinal County, Cyber High School in the
Phoenix Union High School District, Gilbert Classical Academy in the Gilbert
School District, and Coconino High School in Flagstaff Unified.
Members of the Empire High School staff, who are now experienced with
this successful program, will provide professional development to the teachers in
these seven schools, starting with a three-day, digital boot camp the summer of
2007. They will be supported by the County Technology Integration Specialists
and the ADE. Support will continue throughout the project. WestEd, the
federally funded education laboratory for our area, will provide accountability for
this project. The cost of the entire program will be about $1,000 per student.
Each of the seven schools has agreed to put up $500 per student. Unlike Empire
High School, which was a new school, they don’t have the budget for a entire set
of textbooks, but only the money that would be used for the cycle of replacement
of textbooks available. I am therefore asking you for the other $500 and
infrastructure, an appropriation of approximately $2.5 million. It will be an
important investment in keeping Arizona on the cutting edge of technology in
education, and doing so carefully and successfully.
BETTER CURRICULUM – INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
The third initiative, Better Curriculum, is for pilot schools of international
studies, K-12. This initiative is a partnership among the Department, all three
state universities, the Apollo Group, Thunderbird Graduate School, and Chairman
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Anderson. Students would begin learning a new language in kindergarten, and a
second new language in ninth grade, combined with international studies and
exchange programs. They would graduate trilingual, and ready for the
international business climate of the 21st century, or international service. We are
proposing grants of $300,000 each for three K-12 programs, one in southern
Arizona, one in central Arizona, and one in northern Arizona.
In addition, we will propose additional grants of $100,000 each for
international programs in ten high schools throughout the state.
We have thoroughly researched this subject. In New Jersey, test scores of
international K-8 schools are 10 to 15 percent higher than the state’s traditional
schools. Wisconsin’s international education K-8 schools score 8 to 12 percent
higher than its traditional schools. Kansas’ 9-12 international education schools’
score 9 to 11 percent higher than the state’s traditional school.
Remaining Internationally competitive is one of the central issues of our
time. We must produce students who are ready to compete in this new
international environment, and this initiative will be a big step in that direction.
EXISTING INITIATIVES
With these three initiatives, we now have 24 publicly announced initiatives
over the last four years. None ever stops. For example, in 2003, I announced an
initiative for character education. We are still training over 100 schools a year in
character education, and have character education programs at over 600 schools,
with a goal of reaching all Arizona schools by 2010.
Two existing initiatives need special attention this year.
The first “Better Curriculum” initiative, announced in 2004, was to fight the
tendency of schools to narrow their curriculum to the subjects tested in AIMS:
reading, writing and math. Our students deserve a rich curriculum, among other
things, in science, social studies, and the arts.
We have made a lot of progress. With the help of the State Board, we have
adopted much more content-rich curricula in science, social studies, and the arts
than was true in the past. The Fordham Foundation, which studies state standards,
ranks Arizona first in the nation in “curriculum, standards, and school choice.”
The Chief Historian for The History Channel, stated at a news conference: “In
developing the Multimedia Classroom, we analyzed the history curriculum of
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every state… And it was Arizona that stood head and shoulders ahead of the other
49.”
The most important challenge that we now face is in the implementation of
these standards. The most unhappy fact that I must report to you is that there are
numerous elementary schools throughout Arizona that are so focused on dealing
with the pressure to turn in high scores in the reading, writing, and math AIMS
tests, that they teach no history, science, or arts. None. This is unacceptable. .
History is to a country what memory is to an individual. If you take away an
individual’s memory, he does not know where he has been, he does not know
where he is going, and he does not know how to deal with the problems of the
present. The same is true of a country if its citizens do not know our own history.
You have the ability to assure that our students know our history in depth, so that
they can preserve our freedom. It is unthinkable that students should enter middle
school with no knowledge at all of science, history, or the arts. The only reliable
solution is to have AIMS tests in these subjects, in selected grades in elementary
and middle school and end-of-course tests in high school, that are not high stakes
(students would not have to pass them to graduate), but which would be included
in determining a school’s achievement profile. Early in my first term, I proposed,
and the State Board adopted, a Dual Purpose Assessment, that cut Arizona testing
time in half, from two weeks to one week a year. The testing program I am
proposing will not significantly add to the burden of testing time, but it will be
vital in giving schools the necessary incentives so that our students learn science,
history, and the arts.
Finally, we need a more intensive focus on developing leadership, an
initiative we began two years ago. Currently we have 30 trained coaches working
with and supporting school leaders throughout the state. Our goal is to have 100
trained coaches one year from today.
And the most important leadership is your leadership. You will have to
choose among competing priorities. If your choice is to give priority to the
education of our children, you will have bestowed the most important benefit for
our posterity. As Abraham Lincoln would have said, you will have made yourself
worthy of the esteem of your fellow men and women, and of posterity.
Thank you very much, and I look forward to working together with you.

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