Arizona State University's (ASU) Bridging Success program, launched in 2015, is a campus-based support program for students with a background in foster care, also known as Foster Care Alumni (FCA). The program is housed within ASU's School of Social Work, which is part of the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. The program…

Voting rates among Arizona State University (ASU) students have increased between regular term and midterm elections since 2012. Reports show that between the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections, ASU student voting rates increased from 47.8% to 58.7%. During the 2018 midterm election showed a large upward swing in voter turnout among ASU students…

This brief, prepared as part of Morrison Institute for Public Policy's Spotlight on Arizona's Kids project, outlines evidence-based services that help reduce or prevent child abuse and neglect, including home visiting, parent education, domestic violence services, and substance abuse treatment.

In the past few years, people have come to realize that family and child well-being are public health issues. Helping families and children be happy, healthy and resilient helps the larger community. This report will discuss various aspects of family life including the systems that exist to support them, ways families can have more positive…

As downtown Phoenix experiences a wave of new residential and commercial construction, Phoenix Elementary School District #1 (Phoenix #1) is at the center of the largest local demographic change in decades. Phoenix #1 educates more than 6,000 students at 14 schools, from preschool through eighth grade, with many families living in older, historic…

Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) are growing popular among parents of students with disabilities, providing them options to choose how and where to educate their children with financial assistance provided by the state. Almost ten percent of state funding for education is projected to be diverted to private options in 2015. This flexibility…

Phoenix Union High School District (PUHSD) has its roots in Territorial Arizona and has served generations of residents as Phoenix evolved from a dusty agricultural town into the fifth-largest city in the nation. For decades, Phoenix Union High School was the lone high school in Phoenix. Desegregation funding makes up approximately 24 percent of…

Public education is different than it was 40 years ago when U.S. schools educated only one in five children with disabilities. Many states had laws excluding certain students from attending public schools, including children who were deaf, blind, or had emotional or intellectual disabilities. In 1974, Arizona students with certain disabilities…

Quality teaching is essential to providing children with the knowledge and skills necessary for a high quality of life. It's essential to the economy, as well. Business thrives when it has ready access to an educated workforce, allowing Arizona to compete for the best industries and companies. Quality teaching helps build the society in which we…

There is a federal movement to improve student outcomes targeting some of these predictors in several recently launched initiatives, but where does Arizona stand? What are we currently doing to move the needle, and what do we still need to do? This report prepared for the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council has two objectives: (1)…

There is a federal movement to improve student outcomes targeting some of these predictors in several recently launched initiatives, but where does Arizona stand? What are we currently doing to move the needle, and what do we still need to do? This report prepared for the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council has two objectives: (1)…

Helios Education Foundation has sponsored administration of the ACT test to all high school juniors in selected Arizona school districts since 2009 through the District Choice State Testing (DCST) program. Morrison Institute for Public Policy was asked to identify highly achieving low-income students from this group. Highly achieving students were…

Arizona has grown rapidly over the years and our education system has grown in step with the population. But increasing the total budget for education doesn't mean that we have directed more resources to each student. The numbers show that Arizona has one of the lowest per-pupil funding rates in the country. Parties of one faction or another argue…

This report examines the potential of Career and Technical Education (CTE) in Arizona in terms of providing employers certified skills need to compete regionally, nationally and internationally and students avenues for higher education, quality of life and job satisfaction. An appendix on "Estimating the Effect of CTE on High School…

The first installment in the "To Learn and Earn" project, published in March 2009, concluded that Arizona has "unfinished business" in human capital--the knowledge and skills that are so important to stimulating innovation, creating wealth, and promoting economic growth. It identified the next step in finding solutions as…