One of the fundamental facts about working in K-12 education is that no matter what is happening around us, we can never lose sight of our focus: providing kids with the best possible education. Personally, I’m no less passionate about this purpose and neither is the staff at the Arizona K-12 Center.
Like virtually everyone in the education community in Arizona, we’ve undergone significant cuts in funding. Yet our mission is no less urgent. If anything, the need to help teachers enhance their practices and become more accomplished educators and leaders is greater than ever. The fewer teachers working in our schools directly with kids, the more support they need.
Kids are still getting up every morning going to school expecting an education. So we have to seek the means to continue to deliver top-notch professional development opportunities. One of our strongest assets has always been the relationships we have with teacher leaders throughout Arizona. Now we’re working on developing new relationships with community organizations so as to gain funding to further regionalize our efforts.
We’ve worked hard to reach out to teachers beyond the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas. From Chinle in the northeast part of the state to Somerton in the southwest, we’ve connected with teachers who are ready to raise the bar. The next step is to establish on-going partnerships that can support systemic improvement through Master Teacher and National Board Certification
programs.
These areas would include the Yuma/Colorado River region, Flagstaff and the Apache Reservation and the Rim. Each region would develop programming relevant to its unique needs, with the goal of building sustainable capacity for teacher quality and student success. The Center is particularly well positioned to help get such programs up and running.
Another new initiative we’re working to get funded is Innovation Spaces. This project integrates Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) through the opportunity to transform 9’6”x 8’x40’ shipping containers into a customized learning space. Participants engage in learning STEM concepts and content during all phases of the project and create an ecologically sustainable learning space for the community. We’re very excited about the possibilities this project opens.
While economic times are tough, we can’t lessen our efforts to find new ways to fulfill our mission. That’s because what ultimately matters is the kids in the classrooms. We in K-12 education owe it to them to be at our best.
