WHAT'S IN STORE FOR 2011-12 SCHOOL YEAR?

posted by Michael Chihak

It's still summer, but school is under way throughout Arizona, and for this week's program, we will explore the issues around efforts to improve public education.

We plan to interview state officials and those at the local level to get a gauge on expectations for the new school year, in which the state's public schools will be operating with the lowest state funding level in 11 years.

We will look at AIMS testing, which showed in the 2010-11 school year that students are generally improving in reading and math but getting worse in writing. The state Department of Education attributes the writing scores changes to introduction of tougher standards last year.

We will ask what efforts are being made to reduce the dropout rates, especially among minorities and low-income students and what results are being recorded.

We will look at teachers to see how their efforts are being supported and if they are meeting stricter standards.

All coming for Friday. Watch this space for more details.