AZ State Board of Education Spotlights A for Arizona Expansion & Innovation Fund Grant Recipients
| Today, the Arizona State Board of Education showcased three A for Arizona Expansion and Innovation Fund grant recipients to present about the incredible innovations and new approaches to teaching and learning that are being implemented at their public schools. A for Arizona Founder and CEO Emily Anne Gullickson provided an overview of the Fund and the meaningful impact the selected programs are having across the state. All the microgrants awarded support community-drive solutions by public schools to help Arizona’s most vulnerable student populations and those students in areas hit hardest by COVID-19 have access to an excellent education this school year. Get to know these three amazing leaders and the success they are having so far with their students and families because of their microgrant award. |
| Dr. Amy Cislak Tanque Verde High School, Tanque Verde Unified School District Tanque Verde High School implemented a total school redesign to incorporate talent pipeline-aligned academies, business advisory board creation, and school expansion to serve and provide new opportunities to underserved Tucson students. This grant award strengthened TV High’s efforts to ensure that more high school students within Pima County can learn in focused programs that support careers and majors of study in demand in our economy. This grant provided the start-up funds needed for new labs, research facilities, workforce-aligned courses as well as the resources and personnel needed to start the academy programs to serve more students who did not yet have access to a high-quality or in-person learning experience. |
| Diana Diaz-Harrison Arizona Autism The team at Arizona Autism has combined lessons learned since March with their relentless focus on outcomes for their exceptional students to develop a best-in-class schooling experience uniquely designed for students on the autism spectrum and their caregivers. Creating a package of in-person, tele-lesson, digital student portfolios, and tele-therapy options for families requires cutting edge technology and finding or creating best practices to support and train the adult caregivers at home. They are partnering with another grant recipient Great Hearts Academies and Arizona State University to capture these best practices through research for other schools to benefit from and scale. |
| Ashley Hartsock Eva Marshall Magnet, Flagstaff Unified School District Eva Marshall Magnet is home to the Academic High-Altitude Suzuki Violin program. This program results in improved behavior and enhanced focus so sustaining the benefit during remote learning is critical. Eva Marshall released their collection of violins for home use and built their own on-demand and synchronous music education instructional model to accommodate these unique times. Funding helped up-skill instructors for the online format and expand this free program to more families so that Flagstaff students can confidently continue their high-quality music education through real-time small group virtual instruction. |
| About A for Arizona:At A for Arizona, we firmly believe that expanding excellence is our best chance to ensure all K-12 students have access to, and benefit from, high-performing schools and all educational opportunities. We imagine a day where excellence has spread, and failure has fallen away, leaving only the best learning options available for all students. |
