NEW SCHOOL YEAR: NEW AND OLD CHALLENGES

posted by Michael Chihak

Nearly 1.1 million young people, literally, started school in K-12 in Arizona in the last two weeks. Arizona Week on Friday will look at the opportunities and challenges that the new academic year brings from the perspective of administrators and principals.

We will look at academic standards and how they are changing, how students and teachers are rising to the challenge of meeting the standards and how state budget cuts may be hampering those efforts.

We also will explore the impact of charter schools on state education, how schools are faring with the AIMS test and specifically how math proficiency can be improved. Four in 10 Arizona students didn't pass the AIMS math test last school year.

On the interview list so far:

• Gabriel Trujillo, principal of Trevor Browne High School, and Kate McDonald, principal of Metro Tech High School, both in Phoenix.

• Nicholas I. Clement, superintendent of the Flowing ells School District, in Tucson.

• Paul Felix, principal of Nosotros Academy charter school in Tucson.