Speaker says Arizona's children unprepared

Arizona's children are starting kindergarten unprepared to learn and leaving high school unequipped for college and the work force, according to a state education policy group.

"If we miss the early years, it's hard for these kids to catch up," Bob King, president and CEO of the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF), said at a community forum in Yuma.

"Ultimately, we need children to enter the K-12 system ready to learn and leave the system with a diploma that signifies they're ready - either ready for the work force or to go to college."

King was in Yuma presenting a report entitled "Educating Arizona: Assessing Our Education System Birth-Grade 12." He discussed the data Monday with local educators and officials in the Board of Supervisors Auditorium.

The ACF's findings were unfortunate but not surprising, King said. Out of every 100 Arizona high school graduates, only 17 will go on to earn an associate degree in three years or a bachelor's degree in six.

But King said the problem does not begin in high school. It can be traced back to a lack of adequate resources for children starting at birth.

According to the study, 47 percent of Arizona children grow up in low-income families, compared to 39 percent nationally. This not only affects access to preschool education but basic acquisition of skills like vocabulary.

According to the ACF, high-income children hear 8 million more words before the age of 3 than low-income children.

King said one of the keys to improving achievement is getting more high-quality teachers into preschool education and raising salaries at the elementary and high school level to attract top professionals.

There are approximately 12,500 child care, preschool or prekindergarten centers in the state. Most are licensed for health and safety standards but there is no standardized measure for educational quality.

Most also do require their workers to have degrees and there are few resources for stay-at-home parents who want to take charge of their child's early education.

King said putting more emphasis on improving preschool is the first step but getting increased, targeted funds to public education is also imperative.

"High-quality teachers can close the achievement gap," King said. "The problem is economic. I think we need to start thinking about teacher salaries at about $65,000."

But he added just giving schools more money will not solve the problem. That money must go to the right places. He said the ACF is working with school districts to change the way children are promoted through grades, so they advance by ability rather than age.

He commended organizations like Teach for America, which try to pull high-achieving graduates who might go into other fields into teaching.

"My hope is that (when you look at the study), while you won't leave happy, there are some promising things that are on the horizon," he said.

ACF is a statewide partnership of nonprofit organizations, donors and community groups. It focuses on children, family and public education reform. It operates using 13 local agencies throughout the state, one of which is the Yuma Community Foundation.

Crane School District Superintendent Cindy Didway attended the forum and said she was, unfortunately, not surprised by anything she heard.

"None of that data is new. It's presented in a different format but we know these statistics and it is scary."

Didway added that a lack of state-level funding for education often forced administrators to spend their time hunting for grants and alternate money sources, rather than focusing on teaching.

"Arizona needs to fund education," she said.

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Sarah Reynolds can be reached at
sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847.